


Demigods and Dragons

by ForcedToDoThis404



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: A lot of Percabeth, Action/Adventure, Chiron gets a legend, Crossover, Demigods still have their powers, Dragons, F/M, Gen, Hunting, Jade Mountain Academy (Wings of Fire), Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mild Language, Nico gets angry at Nightwings, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-01-16 22:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 66,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21278750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForcedToDoThis404/pseuds/ForcedToDoThis404
Summary: What happens when 5 demigods get taken to a strange land no one has ever heard of or seen? What happens when 5 strange dragons suddenly turn up in the land of Phyrria?Join the dragonets of destiny and the heroes of Olympus as they race against time to save Phyrria, and uncover secrets no one ever wanted to be found...





	1. Dark Clouds

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Demigods and Dragons](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/531284) by TsunamiSeawing13. 

> The original work (my version as well as the original) can be found on Wattpad. This is partly adopted and partly inspired by TsunamiSeawing13 on Wattpad. I will only be posting the edited chapters on here. Both unedited and edited chapters can be found on Wattpad. Edited can mean anything from small grammar and description fixes to whole new paragraphs and scenes. Also, the story is far from complete on Wattpad. I'm just taking a short break from writing to do editing.
> 
> If you have a Wattpad account, please support this story on Wattpad as well. It is my only source of motivation for writing, the feedback and support on Wattpad, and here.
> 
> Please comment your support or suggestions, and give kudos if you like the story and want more.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Annabeth peeled her eyes open when sharp tones hit her ears. She took a few moments to rub the sleep from her eyes and stretch before sitting up begrudgingly, swinging her legs off her bed. She sighed deeply as her body got used to being upright after a long night's sleep. 

She grabbed an orange camp shirt from an ever-growing pile of laundry in the corner of Cabin 6, sniffing it to make sure it was still clean enough for one more day. 

_'I have got to tell my brother to do the laundry. The smell of the rose detergent has worn off long ago,' _she admitted internally.

She prepped herself for the day, the usual routine, and quickly put her shoes on, making sure not to disturb her sleeping brother, Malcolm. First, to Percy's cabin to wake up that sea slug, then to the pavilion for breakfast.

On her way to Percy's cabin, she cast a glance towards the Atlantic coast that ran along the eastern edge of Camp Half-Blood and saw dark storm clouds brewing on the horizon. Annabeth knew deep down that it never rained in camp; the magical border that kept nigh everything out prevented that. She felt foolish for a moment for even doubting the magical barrier. Nonetheless, she still couldn't shake the dark feeling growing and twisting in her insides, warning her that something was going to go very, very bad.

The wind picked up, sending shivers down her back, prompting her to quicken her leisurely pace into a jog as she hurriedly made her way over to Cabin 3. If something bad was going to happen, Percy better be with her. They've survived Tartarus, after all. Even if nothing bad were to happen, well, it just served to make her feel more secure, and that was enough. 


	2. Into the Storm

When Annabeth was almost at the door of Cabin 3, she looked over and saw the shadow of the storm clouds reach the beach as it rolled towards her, covering more and more of her field of view in darkness. She knew it wouldn't hurt her, but she instinctively started running. 

By the time Annabeth made it to Percy's cabin, the storm clouds had already blotted out the sun, shrouding the whole camp in darkness. She tried to open the front door but found it locked. Annabeth looked up in a daze, debating whether or not she should kick the door in before she got jolted by one of her boyfriend's signature snores. She ran to the side of the cabin and knocked frantically on the window next to Percy, hoping to wake him up. 

_ 'They never lock their windows, do they?'  _ Annabeth realized, before pulling it open after fumbling for a moment to get a grip. 

She climbed in through the window, staying quiet to make it a surprise. Even in a panic, she couldn't help but prank her sleeping boyfriend. She then ripped the covers off of him.

"Percy, get up, you need to see this," she whispered to him urgently. 

"Noooo! Give me my blanket back. Let me sleep," Percy whined.

"Come on seaweed brain! This is important!" Annabeth hissed. 

"Annabeeeeeeeth," Percy whined again. "Can't I have  _ some  _ downtime in my life?"

"Percy, come on. Here," Annabeth huffed, offering a hand, which Percy promptly grabbed. She dragged him into an upright position.

Percy sighed. Annabeth wasn't gonna let him sleep in, was she? He rubbed his eyes and looked around. The profound darkness outside caught his eyes.

_ 'Isn't it supposed to be morning? There's no way Annabeth would wake me up in the middle of the night. Well, she has done that before, I suppose,'  _ Percy hazily thought.

Annabeth saw his jaw drop, and his eyes widen.

"Holy Hephestaus what is that!?" Percy exclaimed.

"It's a cloud. Have you seen one before?" Annabeth snarkily replies.

"No, not that. Why is it so freaking dark? I thought the weather was supposed to be perfect around here," Percy huffed. Annabeth was giving him an attitude again.

"I don't know, but it can't be good. Come, let's go wake the others up."

Percy nods, the storm clouds giving him the alarm and boost needed to move.

Annabeth cast a glance at the storm cloud before heading over to Jason's cabin, the dark feeling squirming inside, like the clouds above. Neither were aware of what the storm was doing, as they ripped their gazes from above to ahead as they ran.


	3. Terrifying Transport

The closer Percy and Annabeth got to Cabin One, the faster the wind was  _ inside _ the camp. This didn't go unnoticed. Annabeth spared a quick look, alarmed to see a funnel descending through the clouds and make contact with the ethereal barrier between the camp and the outside. Her alarm turned to panic as it began the slow process of drilling through the barrier. Percy didn't seem to notice the wind, walking onwards as if nothing was wrong. 

A sudden gust blew Annabeth into Percy, remedying his apathy regarding the wind. After steadying herself, Annabeth decided to start running toward's the big house. Percy ran after her, confused that she would change directions on a dime. 

Annabeth yelled something that Percy couldn't quite pick up over the howling wind. 

"What?!" Percy hollered over the wind. 

"I need to get Chiron! You go get the others!" Annabeth hollered back even louder. 

Percy ran the other way, trusting and hoping that his girlfriend's judgment was right. 

_ 'She usually is,'  _ Percy assured himself.  _ _

He was about to pound when Jason opened the door. Percy practically hopped in like a kangaroo, eager to be out of the wind. 

"What's going on outside?" Jason asked while Percy rubbed the goosebumps on his arm.

"How should I know? Hurry up, we need to get the others," Percy blurted, already leaving. 

Jason quickly threw on some clothes, before sprinting towards Piper's cabin. Percy was well on his way to Nico's cabin. The funnel above kept chewing away at the barrier, cracks marring the surface, like a phone dropped one too many times. 

Percy frantically pulled Nico out of bed, throwing clothes at Nico to put on. Jason did the same thing to Piper, but with more class, as is expected. Percy was still yelling at Nico to inform him of the happenings when he heard a scream, coming from the Big House. 

_ 'Oh no!'  _ Percy thought before his brain's rational thought shut down. Horrid memories started to flood his body, filling him with fear and rage.

Percy sprinted to the Big House, fuelled on those feelings he'd locked away since he and Annabeth successfully escaped Tartarus. Only, he was shaken to see Annabeth perfectly fine. Either the wind got a lot worse, which was entirely possible, or something was playing tricks on him. Either way, Percy just calmly notified Annabeth that he had gathered the others, deciding to keep that harrowing sound to himself. Jason didn't seem to hear it, which just made it so much more confusing for Percy. 

"Ok, what do we do now?" Percy said to Annabeth, awaiting her input. 

"Chiron told me that this was a rare phenomenon that happens once every millennia or so. Apparently, he had fallen into one of these storms before but managed to find his way back before things got dicey on 'the other side, at least that's what I got. He strongly recommends that we do not get sucked up by the funnel. He said something about us not being ready or whatever," Annabeth reported. 

A massive crack echoed through the camp, drowning out all talking.

"Uh, here it comes!" exclaimed Percy wildly, as he pointed a finger at the funnel rapidly descending towards the group. "RUN! RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!!!!"

Percy, Annabeth, and Piper tried to outrun the funnel, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Jason was fighting it with his own wind, but it seemed to just feed the funnel. Nico just sat down, right then and there with a poker face. The funnel was too wide and too fast to escape from. The fact that it even broke through the magical barrier was a testament to its power. Nico figured that he might of as well just save energy for whatever was waiting on the other side. 

The funnel engulfed them, and the howling wind stopped. They heard nothing, saw nothing, and felt nothing. It was just them and their thoughts. They weren't in that state long enough to start freaking out. However, it wasn't long before one by one, their minds fell into darkness completely.


	4. A New Land

Percy woke up.

_'Did I fall asleep?' _Percy wondered as he felt himself floating.

The air was cooler and crisper than any air he'd ever breathed before. He opened his eyes to see a shimmering azure surface above him. He didn't understand for a second, mind still hazy but after a few moments of staring and blinking at the dancing waves above, he understood. He was underwater, and though he certainly was in his element, he did remember being on land before the freak storm. That was a problem. It meant he'd be somewhere other than where he was before this massive anomaly occurred.

Percy suddenly realized he just got thrown somewhere without his friends. It certainly wasn't the first time it's happened though. At least he still remembered everything before, unlike the cruel joke Hera pulled with him a few months ago.

_'Ah shit, here we go again,' _Percy sighed inwardly, closing his eyes. _'C'mon, you can do this. It's just an adventure. A chance to see and do new things. Get it together, man.'_

He reopened his eyes after his little pep talk, half expecting to be somewhere new. Disappointed, he attempted to swim towards the surface only to realize something was off. Nothing felt right. His limbs felt like they were in the wrong place, and his body felt... _weird._

_'Why didn't I notice the change earlier? Where did this tail come from? Why is my skin... made of scales!?'_ Percy thought in alarm.

He saw two stout limbs ending in hooked talons, covered in rich turquoise scales dotted with paler scales here and there. That's where his arms should be. Percy clenched his "hands," watching the talons in a front clench and unclench. Satisfied, he looked over his shoulder and cringed at how weird it felt to have a long neck. Mounted right on top and to the back of his muscular shoulders were two light blue wings with stunningly gorgeous patterns of whirls, spirals, and starbursts of light blue.

_'W-What?' _Percy thought, wonder filling his body.

He moved his talons to his face. It was slender, sloping, dragon-like almost, and it most certainly wasn't his human face. He craned his neck downwards and rectangular scales the same color as his wings came into view, along with fins running down the middle of his chest.

He started to get angry. Not only was he thrown somewhere, but he was also "gifted" a new form. He started swimming towards the surface in a rather sloppy, ungainly manner, being unaccustomed to this body, but his determination compensated for the lack of elegance. However, he was improving with every movement. Every tail stroke grew more efficient, smoother, more powerful. Every flap of his wings carried more energy, pivoted closer to how the natives would flap. He broke free of the surface, flapping to gain altitude and get a view of the land, before gliding down to a nearby beach.

_'Find Annabeth!' _his mind roared.

He gritted his sharp, pearly white teeth and looked around while flapping his wings, still trying to get accustomed to his new form. Really, it was just a distraction from his racing mind. The new form and new place, everything really. Percy was getting more tense and anxious by the moment.

_'Why am I here? How? What happened to everyone else? Am I in danger? Are they in danger? Is Annabeth in danger? Gods, help me here. Nothing makes sense!' _Percy's mind droned on, asking questions he had no answers to. His muscles tensed, tail thrashing, throwing up sand everywhere. 

He was about to roar in frustration when he sensed a presence behind himself. He whipped around best he could, instinctively throwing his wings up in an intimidation display, maw twisted in a snarl, ready to fight.


	5. Strange Predicament

_Swish. Swish_

Annabeth peeled her eyes open, a throbbing headache slowly ebbing away. She was slightly dazed by her headache caused by the experience of losing all senses then consciousness, before being thrown back into the world. She looked around, unaware of her new body, to take stock of her surroundings.

_'I'm in a forest of some kind. Most of the trees are conifers, though some are palm trees. That would suggest a subtropical climate, similar to the Southern States. There's a beach not too far from here,' _Annabeth thought calmly, analyzing her location.

Considering recent events, it's bizarre that there were no storm clouds, no funnel. The sun beamed down through the forest canopy, making Annabeth warm rapidly, though it wasn't harsh, more like a blanket. The wind was mild, doing little more than waving the branches and ferns ever so slightly and bringing some coolness to her scales.

_Wait. That's bizarre._

As Annabeth examined her new body, she naturally came to the conclusion that she was a dragon. Black scales covered her body like armor, though her underbelly was a light grey. Her coloring would explain why she heated up rather fast. She gave her wings a few experimental flaps, catching a glimpse of the starry pattern on the underside.

_'Fascinating scale pattern. Must say it looks quite lovely. Gosh, I'm starting to sound like the Aphrodite campers,' _Annabeth huffed.

Looking at the ferns below, as well as the trees of the forest she also realized she has become much larger. Her body must have been around 5 meters tall. Having accustomed herself to her new body, Annabeth turned to deal with more pressing issues. She could hear the waves of the water nearby. Focusing on the calming sound, it brought a small twinge of loneliness.

_'Where am I, where is Percy, and who did this?' _Annabeth wondered.

Annabeth shook her head, clearing out all the negative thoughts. She needed to find Percy. She headed down to the beach, weaving between trees gracefully. Stepping into the sand, she took a moment to appreciate the warm, dry sand between her talons and the vast ocean ahead. At least this place was beautiful. She looked around for anything.

_'There!' _Annabeth thought excitedly.

A blue-green (turquoise) dragon with... webbed talons and small sails along its back, chest, and tail? It wasn't facing her, but she could tell it was agitated. She approached it carefully, preparing various responses to its questions, should it ask, if it could even talk.

She stopped a few paces away and as she was about to open her snout to talk to the mysterious dragon, it whipped around, snarling. Annabeth jumped a bit but remained rooted. It leaped at her, attempting to slash her. She flared her wings in alarm and jumped back.

"Hey! That was uncalled for." Annabeth yelled, pushing down her alarm. Panicking in a fight was disadvantageous.

"I don't care! Where am I!? Tell me where I am!" the turquoise dragon roared, slashing again, before curling its talons into a fist and trying to punch her in the jaw.

"I don't know where I am either!" Annabeth yelled, parrying a right hook with her forearm. The dragon kept pushing forward, and Annabeth kept backing up trying to maintain distance. It kept throwing jabs and hooks that Annabeth parried with ease, before the dragon whirled around, throwing off her tempo. A tail whacked her in the side of her jaw, hard, followed up by a slash to her shoulder. Annabeth screeched in pain and started responding with her own attacks. She wasn't going to let this dragon hack away at her unopposed, even if her dazed movements were largely ineffective.

"Who are you!" Annabeth continued, as the two continued fighting, panting to stave off exhaustion. "Can we stop for one minute to talk? I'm not here to fight, damn it!"

The turquoise dragon heeded her words and backed off, though his talons were still up. He was breathing heavily, still in a frenzy. Annabeth took the chance to catch her breath. This dragon was skilled in fighting. That said something.

"I'm Percy, and you are?" the turquoise dragon answered.

Annabeth softened her stance, arms dropping, her aching shoulders getting a break from guarding her face and neck. Her face lit up with realization and joy. The turquoise dragon merely looked confused.

"Percy!?! Thank the gods." Annabeth sighed in relief. She stepped forward but stopped as the dragon backed up, before putting his claws up, a fresh snarl filling the now quiet environment.

"How do you recognize me? I've never seen you before. Who are you?" he growled.

"What? I'm Annabeth. Good grief, you seaweed brain." Annabeth scoffed.

It was only then that Percy realized the black dragon in front of him was Annabeth. He was about to say something when Annabeth silenced him with a kiss. It was really awkward, with their new bodies and the unfortunate circumstances. When they broke apart, Annabeth backed up a bit to get a look at Percy's new form. She was especially intrigued by the patterns on his wings and body, as well as his gills.

"How did this happen?" Annabeth asked as she ran the back of her talons gently over his gills.

"I don't know. Nothing is making sense right now. Sorry about attacking you," Percy responded sheepishly.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt that much anyway," Annabeth replied, waving his worries away.

"I dunno, it didn't seem that way when we were fighting. I cut pretty deep, and that was a whip strike to the jaw. Those hurt," Percy fussed. "The adrenaline's going to wear off too. That's when the pain hit's you like a pile of bricks."

"I'm not that weak. It's just a scratch. Don't beat yourself up over it. Honest mistakes happen, especially with seaweed brains like you," Annabeth replied with a smirk. Percy just huffed, thinking about how to make it up to her later.

"Also, pardon my asking, but you have gills. I look like a stereotypical dragon, but your body looks to be adapted for an aquatic lifestyle..." Annabeth said, trailing off in thought.

"I thought I was breathing underwater because of my dad and all." Percy grinned.

Annabeth suddenly had a realization.

"Can you still manipulate water?" Annabeth asked.

"Let's sea," Percy replied, smirking at his own pun. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Water puns if they're corny," she shot back, before sitting back and watching.

He concentrated on the ocean, as he always did. He felt a familiar tug in his stomach. He then morphed the water into the ok gesture, planning on pulling a trick. He then materialized a human out of water next to it, right above the hand gesture. He saw that Annabeth was still staring at the water hand.

"Got you, now I get to punch you." Percy snickered.

Annabeth looked back at Percy, only to see his signature grin. She rolled her eyes.

"You can punch that if you take this scratch back," Annabeth retorted pointing at her shoulder. "And this whip strike," Annabeth motioned towards her jaw.

"Fair point," Percy sighed.

He pulled her into a hug, tucking his head into the crook of her shoulder surprising her, but she quickly melted into the hug too. They finally had each other, Percy realized. He sighed, letting the tension flow out of his body. They could do anything together.

"We can get through this together, alright?"

"Alright."


	6. To the City

Jason woke up with a start, the blue sky staring back at him as he let out a long groan. He realized his vision was swimming when he slowly turned his head towards the ground. He squinted at the rocks and trees fading in and out, twirling about in all sorts of crazy colors like some demented Chinese dragon festival. He shut his eyes and groaned again, his head woozy and throbbing with a dull ache, his body seemed too tired to move, yet desperate to flex every muscle and stretch at the same time. He spent a while drifting in and out of consciousness. Because his snout was stuffed, Jason was forced to breathe through his mouth. Time slowed to a mush. It wasn't too dissimilar to an afternoon nap with a cold.

Eventually, he found the energy and willpower to haul himself up and plod over to a small pool of rainwater conveniently placed nearby, hoping the water would help clear his mind. 

Somehow, Jason failed to notice that he was a dragon until he saw his reflection. He spent a moment staring dumbfounded at the reflection, jaw slack in awe and confusion. Jason pinched himself to try to resituate himself, to convince himself it was a dream, but the pain was very real. In his haziness and alarm, he subconsciously called lightning from the sky into the pool in front of him on accident. He flinched when the lightning struck, not expecting it. The pool of water was gone, evaporated like his haziness. Jason groaned. The day was off to a great start.

_ 'At least I have my powers. That's a good place to start,' _ Jason thought, looking at the talons clenching and unclenching before him. He looked up and saw a slab of shiny obsidian. Even if the water was gone, he could still get a look at himself. Jason carefully observed his new body, from his rock hard red scales adorning his entire body to his massive wings and long tail. Jason looked at the slab head-on, remarking his piercing blue eyes and the blonde pair of horns on his head. All the other spines were white.

_ 'Well, that much stayed the same,' _Jason chuckled internally. 

Jason decided to have a look around, hoping to find his friends or at least a refreshing mountain stream. He eventually came across a small settlement, skillfully hidden in the forest. Jason needed a second take to realize there was something amongst the trees. Interest piqued, Jason opted to push back finding a stream to refresh himself. He landed nearby, and carefully weaved towards the settlement, careful not to disturb anything. Pushing through the dense forest, taking note of his new size, Jason slowed to a crawl when his keen sense of hearing picked up talking. As fewer and fewer trunks and branches stood between Jason and the settlement, the voices grew louder and more distinct. Jason hadn't expected anything to be talking when he came to investigate. 

_ 'So this dimension does have people... or at least something sapient and capable of English. Strange,' _Jason concluded.

Jason crouched down and peered through the ferns straight into the camp. A few dozen people were seen milling about daily activities. Playing, cooking, making weapons, chatting, etc. Jason smiled, seeing that they were happy; to see something normal, even if it was as a dragon, definitely helped settle whatever nerves Jason may have had in this new conundrum. Jason figured if he could understand them, he could probably ask them for directions. Jason practiced forming a few words in his new form. Speaking in this dragon form was no different than speaking when he was a human. Jason snorted in surprise. That little sound drew the attention of the humans in the camp. The liveliness of the camp evaporated.

"Shit. Is there something in the ferns?" someone asked.

"There are kids here! Keep that cursing to a minimum!" a woman said, glaring at the first speaker.

"Keep it down. I think there might be something in the bush," another person said, before standing up and grabbing a spear.

Jason had a choice now. He could flee and avoid confrontation, or he could try to communicate with them and try to keep things calm. 

A few more people grabbed their spears, before fanning out into a semi-circle, surrounding the ferns. 

Jason pressed his wings closer to his body, knowing that trying to reduce how big he looked would change their reaction. 

"I'm not going to hurt anyone," Jason said, holding his talons up to show non-aggression as he walked out of the ferns slowly.

The humans all backed up, various degrees of confusion marking their faces. They all expected the dragon to try to attack them like the apex predators they were. Furthermore, they did not expect the dragon to speak.

The 2 sides stared down for a few moments, quietly deciding their next moves.

"You can talk?" a kid asked from his mother's arms, his shrill voice carried by the wind.

"Yeah. Do dragons not do that here? Whoops. Here, let me try again. Growl, roar!" Jason said, cracking a small grin, though he could tell it looked more like a snarl based on the reactions. However, the little kid was laughing at his sarcasm. 

"Tsk, doesn't matter. Why are you here, sky dragon? If you make any sudden moves, this spear is going up your rear end!" one of the spearmen snarled.

Jason thought for a moment, picking his words carefully.

"I'm a tad bit lost. No need to threaten me, I already said I wasn't going to hurt anyone," Jason assured them.

"A sky dragon, lost? Nice try," the same spearman said.

"You guys can understand me! Doesn't that at least prove something? I'm not from around here," Jason retorted. He took their silence as a cue to continue speaking. Evidently, he was making sense. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. You guys are paranoid. Just calm down. I haven't made any sudden moves, and I'm not going to make any sudden moves. I just figured you guys might know if there is a stream somewhere nearby."

"How do we know you won't poison the stream, or tell your friends where we are so we can be eaten and turned into fucking jerky by you barbaric dragons?" another spearman snarled.

Jason groaned internally. It was starting to get frustrating talking to these people. Not only were they a pain to try to convince he wasn't going to hurt them, but they also had to remind him of the fact that he had no idea where his friends were.

"Fine. At least tell me where the dragons live," Jason said.

"You don't know?" a woman asked.

"Bullshit!" a man cut in.

"No. No, I don't. I haven't seen another dragon since I woke up here," Jason answered.

"Even more bullshit!"

"You're paranoid, I get it. I want to get out of your hair as soon as possible. Just tell me where a nearby river or dragon settlement is, and I'll be gone!" Jason said through grit teeth.

"You're going to bring your friends, aren't you. Then we'll be jerky!"

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Jason roared in frustration. He took a deep breath, then looked around. He marched forward, disregarding the spearmen. His sudden movement caught them off guard, but by the time they tried to throw their spears, he was already lifting off, a compass in his talons. 

"Are we all accounted for?" someone yelped.

"Yeah, he didn't take or squish anyone. Thank the moons!" someone answered.

The people watched the dragon hover in the air, studying the compass he stole. He looked around, before coming back down and dropping the compass and flying off.

Jason looked at the compass, then at the mountains to the west.

_ 'Hmm, mountains would suggest an ocean in the other direction. So that would mean there is a massive body of water to the east, even if I can't see it. He called me a 'sky dragon.' That would suggest dragon civilization would be in the mountains. It also means other kinds of dragons? I'll hold onto that thought. I'm flying west. Let's return this compass.' _

Luckily, he found the stream he was looking for at the start of his flight to find civilization. Without a parched throat and a clean face and snout, Jason's mood was already improved from the paranoid humans. A few hours of flying later, Jason finally found civilization. It was a city full of dragons on a flat plateau, while a large, majestic castle was built into the peak of the mountain, boasting strange pillars that soared to the sky. He couldn't help but wonder what those pillars were for. Jason made sure to hold onto that thought as well.

_ 'If I can understand the humans, does that mean I can't understand the dragons, or am I some weird bridge where I can understand and speak both languages?' _Jason wondered.

Jason hoped that language wouldn't be a problem. He'd be marching into a city full of dragons, whose cultures, customs were different, to begin with. Tacking language onto that would suck. It's a calculated risk, but it paled in comparison to trying to find his way to his friends alone. 

It looks like he was going to be stuck here for a while. Jason steeled himself for the days ahead, likely lonely and dangerous. But he'd do anything for his friends.


	7. The Living

Nico spent most of his life in a depressed, gloomy state. It's an obvious observation, he was often seen talking to the dead or sulking alone. On the surface, it seemed Nico liked that lifestyle. After all, it was mostly quiet and tranquil, nothing exciting or joyful per se, and Nico didn't actively complain or anything. However, it couldn't further from the truth. For Nico, his lifestyle was more of a symptom than anything else. Hard as it is to believe, he used to be bright and bubbly, but that energy died with Bianca. She gave her life to save Nico, the ultimate sacrifice, though Nico wished she never gave herself for him. He viewed the loss of his sister as his ultimate failure. As such, he forced himself to pay the ultimate penance. He would never forgive himself. He would never move on from her death. He would never act like he did before Bianca died. It tore him inside, ground his heart, to not laugh and joke and play like a normal person, but he knew he deserved the pain and loneliness. He failed to protect himself, and his sister paid the price, even though she didn't have to. All this shame and frustration with himself reflected in his reservation, lack of words, and participation. He only spoke to the living when spoken to; he mostly spoke to the dead. They were the only ones who he could relate to, their somber and melancholic attitudes denying them the ability to joke and laugh, something he twists himself into believing he deserved. It didn't matter. He missed Bianca, so very much.

Nico gritted his teeth, then opened his eyes. He immediately recognized he was on four 'feet.'

_'Oh, yay. I'm a dragon,' _Nico remarked, unamused with the changes.

Nico sighed, brushing aside his inner monologue.

_'Remember, stay quiet, never laugh, rarely smile. This is your penance,' _Nico reminded himself, before examining his new form.

His sleek form was covered in obsidian black scales, though the undersides of his wings, as well as his numerous sharp spines and spiked tail, were a stark white, both from years of hiding, sulking, or actively dying and his heritage as a child of Hades. Nico thought of his sister again, of how she gave herself up because of his personal inadequacies. He gritted his teeth harder. He clenched his talons with a burning passion. All around him, dead things resurrected, and living things extinguished as his power flared. He was a bit taken aback but then smirked, the only expression of joy he could form nowadays. He still had his powers in this new place. He was safer, better off than he was 30 seconds ago. Nico doused the flames of frustration burning within. Anger was of no use right now. Now, where was he?

_'Oh, that's a rainforest all right. Gosh, haven't seen this many bright colors since that retarded casino I spent 70 years in,' _Nico groaned internally.

His keen ears picked up some sounds. They flicked towards the source, and his head followed suit. Nico looked towards the murmuring nearby. It would seem there were people around. Interest piqued, he pushed through a wall of vegetation to come across a bustling village of dark dragons, much like him. He paused and looked around, before walking into the village tentatively, like a new kid on the first day of school. Nico growled internally, and forced down his social anxiety, resolving to talk to one of the dragons nearby. However, someone else did the honors for him.

"Hey look, someone decided to have a bastard child with an Icewing! Filthy hybrid!" a random dragon sneered at Nico.

_'Bastard child, huh?' _Nico wondered, his irritation reaching new heights. _'Wonder what an Icewing is, though that doesn't matter.'_

Nico didn't want the attention of the whole village, heck, he'd prefer if they would all ignore him, but he wasn't going to let himself be insulted. He turned towards the voice with a snarl. He was ready to defend his name against whoever dared slander him. Tail lashing, Nico charged forward, only to plant face-first into the moist layer of dirt and leaves.

That dragon was doubled over laughing now. Nico growled. He would not get humiliated by this lowlife, even if it was his fault for charging in blindly. He pulled himself back up slowly and deliberately, letting the anger flow throughout his body, the fire blazing in his veins. Nico brought a talon up and pointed at the laughing dragon. Black talons clawed out of the ground and shot towards the dragon, pulling the now terrified dragon towards him. Nico had a manic grin as the dragon struggled with the ethereal forces, leaving clawed dirt and drops of blood in his trail. The harder dragon fought the talons Nico had summoned, the harder said talons clamped down. The dragon whimpered as Nico sauntered up close and personal to send a message, making sure this dragon would remember every feature of his face. It did bring him satisfaction to scare this dragon, even if it wasn't good for the long term.

"You tell me where I am and stay away from me for the rest of your miserable life, or I send your soul to the depths of Tartarus!" Nico snarled. The dragon whimpered again and tried to avoid his gaze, but Nico grabbed the dragon's head and forced the dragon to look him straight in his eyes. He tried to summon some spirits from the underworld to make his point, but it didn't work. Nico faltered for a moment, but he managed to steel himself without missing a beat. He was still missing some of his powers, but he could make do with what he has.

"Wh-why are they pure black?" the dragon mewled, still trying to avoid Nico's gaze.

Nico only chuckled. "Oh, are they now? Don't be so surprised. I am death itself, after all."

_'That's a bit of a stretch, but oh well.'_

The dragon only whimpered with fear. The others looked his way in horror. He managed to wrench his head out of Nico's grip and turned around to mouth 'help me' to the others. They saw a menacing black dragon with black, bottomless eyes, white wings, and spines holding a fellow villager in black tendrils.

"Y-you're in t-the Nightwing village in the R-rainforest Kingdom," one of the bystanders stammered with fear.

Nico visibly recoiled when he realized he was in a different dimension, which would explain why he couldn't sense any spirits or openings to the Underworld. He didn't lose his powers. His powers lost him. This was some sort of cruel joke, wasn't it? He lost all focus and let the dragon go, sent into a daze by the reality of the situation. He backed up a few steps, trying to catch his suddenly jelly-like legs. The village was thrown pandemonium around him, the screaming and trampling of feet drowning his ears, and yet he was in his quiet world, confused and pondering. In all the commotion, someone had managed to send a messenger to the queen to raise the alarm of a dangerous intruder in the village.

"Your majesty! Your majesty! T-There is a dangerous dragon in the Nightwing village! We need you to come and handle it!" the messenger cried out in a panic.

Glory was ejected from the peaceful but monotonous world of paperwork.

_'What's going on?' _Glory wondered, the panic in the messenger's voice speeding up her train of thought.

Glory looked the messenger in the eye and gave a calming nod, reassuring the panicking Nightwing. She didn't ask for any elaboration. The face of the messenger told the whole story. She grabbed Deathbringer from his, and a Rainwing guard squadron before soaring off with haste.

The procession touched down in the Nightwing village, finding most of the dragons gone, in hiding or scattered into the forest.

_'What could cause such a commotion? I thought the Nightwings were at least decently tough,' _Glory thought in alarm. She looked towards Deathbringer, but he was silent, his usual aloof face was steeled.

_'There!'_

Nico stood in a circle of dead vegetation and bones he'd pulled out of the ground.

_'A good intimidation display. That line's a bit corny, now that I think about it. Eh, whatever, as long as it shows I'm not to be messed with,' _Nico smirked to himself. The twisting feeling of despair and worry bubbled in his gut, but Nico forced it down. He cannot afford to be weak. He turned to the new arrivals and spread his wings, snarling. If he was going to be dumped in a new world, at least he wasn't going to take crap from anyone.

In the circle of dead vegetation and bones stood a black dragon with snow-white wings. Both Glory and Deathbringer came to the conclusion that this stranger was a hybrid. Glory motioned for the Rainwings to take up defensive positions and sent some camouflaged dragons to surround this intruder. She stepped forward, baring her fangs, ruff flared. Two can play the intimidation game. Deathbringer took a stance and then called out.

"Her majesty commands that you leave the rainforest immediately or face the consequences," Deathbringer ordered, forcing his voice deeper for authority.

Nico did not back down, but his mind was waging war against itself. He hadn't figured out to fly and he'd got himself cornered. He could sense the dragons behind him. He could get out, but it'd turn bloody really fast, and in this new world, making enemies everywhere wasn't ideal.

_'Stupid, stupid. You got too cocky. Stupid shit!' _Nico panicked inside.

Nico just snarled back at them to mask his uncertainty. "I don't care for your stupid rules. Leave me alone, got it?"

Glory was slightly taken aback. He wasn't here to attack, and yet...

_'Can he be trusted? Deathbringer can handle him, but he isn't here to attack? What is he here for then?' _Glory wondered.

She motioned Deathbringer forward without a second thought, then sat back to watch this intruder get destroyed. Deathbringer gave the toothiest most crazed grin he could. Finally some action in the boring rainforest. He leaped forward, claws outstretched, flanked by the Rainwing guards. They were stopped right in their tracks before they even realized. All of them were wrapped in cages of bones, secured by black chains. Deathbringer roared in fury, trying to break free of his prison. The Rainwings tried to leverage their lighter, lither builds, but the cages contracted around them. They were trapped. The world seemed to freeze. Nothing moved. Glory had two options. She could join the fray, or try to negotiate.

_'He did say he wanted to be left alone,' _Glory realized.

"Alright, alright. You've made yourself understood. Can you let them go if we don't attack you and let you be in peace?" Glory called out tentatively.

Nico pondered for a moment. _'More willing to compromise and civilized than a lot of things back home. It could be a trick.'_

"So you surrender, and agree to leave me alone?"

"Not quite surrender, but we agree to leave you alone." Glory said. The rainforest could not risk a rampaging dragon like this. If it cost them their dignity, then so be it.

"In fact, we would be so kind as to accommodate you here." Glory chanced.

Nico's eyes widened slightly. He could tell that the leader was telling the truth, but it was so weird. The sudden change of tone. It just puzzled him. He thought some more.

"I won't harm any of your subjects. You have my word. Just don't make any moves on me and let me be in peace. Got it?"

"We agree to your terms," Glory confirmed.

With that, he flicked his talons, and all the dragons were suddenly released. The Rainwings retreated, slinking back to their queen's side with their tails between their legs. But Deathbringer charged forward again, only to skid to a stop when Glory brought her talons forcefully down on his tail.

"Glory!" he yelped in alarm.

"It's over. He's our guest in the rainforest now. Do not disobey me and attack him because he subdued you without trying," Glory ordered.

"He threatened the fragile peace of our domain! He attacked me without hesitation!" he roared.

"No. I foolishly ordered you guys to attack. He was defending himself. I saw with my own eyes how excited you were to fight," Glory shot back.

"Ok, you got me there," Deathbringer admitted. "But you can't just let him go free without punishment!"

"Deathbringer. Remember, you tried to kill me the first time I met you. If anything, that was your job. Of all dragons, you should know it's not abnormal for me to let dragons off the hook."

Deathbringer cursed under his breath. She had a point. He lashed his tail angrily. He vehemently hated being wrong.

Glory turned back to the mysterious dragon and apologized. Nico's heart softened a bit. He was too aggressive and got into a fight with little justification. He was lucky that this dragon was giving him a chance.

"Thank you for giving me a chance. I wasn't in the right state of mind, and the dragons here were being very rude. Sorry about starting off on the wrong foot. I'm Nico by the way," Nico said, allowing his stance to relax.

"Thank you for being reasonable. Some of the Nightwings are still pretty intolerant about certain tribes." Glory replied, thinking this was due to some of the recent controversy surrounding hybrids.

Nico nodded in agreement, then turned around and walked off into the forest, the bones and death sinking into the ground, returning the village to the peaceful, alive place it was before. Minus the dragons of course.

_'What to do now? I don't know where my friends are. Are they even here? At least I still have my powers. But the Underworld isn't here. Eh, whatever.' _


	8. Unmuted Colors

The first thing Piper noticed when she settled back into her body from the funnel experience was the heat. Much like the places she used to live in, California and Oklahoma. The warmth seeped into her body, fuzzy and comforting. The heat was familiar, Piper knew that much. But what wasn't familiar was the oppressive humidity. She instantly knew she was in a rainforest before she even opened her eyes. It wasn't just the telltale combination of heat and humidity. She heard it all.

When she did, she was immediately assaulted by the overly expressive colors of the rainforest. Light rays permeated the cramped space. Trees reaching towards the skies, bearing colorful fruits and massive green leaves. Various animals scampered around. It was quite enchanting.

Piper, of course, noticed that she was a lightly built pink dragon.

_'What a ridiculous color, just like the lipstick my obnoxious siblings often fawned over,' _Piper thought, thinking of her somewhat braindead cabinmates. She looked over herself to see red pillowing across her scales like an approaching storm.

_'I guess red means anger. So I can change colors? Interesting. Let me try green,' _Piper mused.

Sure enough, a green tidal wave washed over her scales. Piper tried a few more colors and was quite impressed that she could do all the colors. She tried a few patterns, even. Polka-dots, stripes, even digital camo. All flawless. Piper was blown away by her color-changing abilities.

Piper sighed, taking a moment to relax, before assessing her current situation. The forest floor was excessively humid, and she found she had a hard time breathing with so much water in the air. It was also cramped. Pretty much all available floor space was taken up by ferns, bushes, and other unidentifiable tropical plants. She wanted to get out of the cramped, humid forest floor. She opted to climb a tree, not only because air became less humid with more altitude, but also to get a better view. Reaching the top, albeit, with some difficulty, she was amazed by the view. She sat at the top for quite a while, taking in the view and breathing less humid air.

_'Am I alone here? The others were also swallowed by the funnel. Which... where's Jason? Where am I? Ugh,' _Piper groaned internally.

Piper shook her head. Her thoughts were scattered, distracting. She jumped off of the tree, landing on a nearby one, before dropping off of that one and gliding, before flapping hard and breaking through the canopy again. She hoped to find something, a clue perhaps, as to where her friends were. A two-pronged mountain loomed in the distance. It looked too far for her, and she just opted to search around the rainforest.

It was nearing sunset when Piper finally found a village. Her wings were aching from so much tree-gliding. She pushed her discomfort to the back of her head.

The village was on the forest floor, and from her perch, she saw many black dragons milling about. Some were pushing trees over, others building, cooking, chatting, etc. Piper just observed quietly, changing her scales to a dark blue/purple to match the darkening sky and forest, hoping it would prevent her from being detected.

_'Think, Piper. If there is civilization, there must be a power structure.'_

Sure enough, the dragons stopped what they were doing when a dragon with purple scales and yellow highlights and a flower crown landed on a raised wooden platform, flanked by guards. She was taken aback slightly by the cinematic timing.

_'It's built like me. Wait... what!? The dragons below are clearly a different kind. What happened here?' _Piper wondered.

Piper's curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to move closer but kept what she thought was a safe distance. She heard muted whispers in the crowd, while the leader on the platform made some announcements.

She only caught snippets, and really wanted to move closer, but her talons felt heavy. She was scared, she just didn't want to accept that she was.

"Dragon.. fight... safe... our guest... night," the dragon announced over several minutes.

_'6 words for 4 minutes or so of speaking. You're here for information, for gods' sake!' _Piper groaned internally.

When the leader flew off with its entourage, Piper contemplated following them. She was definitely interested in the fact that it seemed a color-changing dragon was in charge. It would be more dangerous to follow them, but given current circumstances, with a profound lack of leads as to where she was, and where her friends were, Piper concluded it would be best to risk following the entourage. She followed them without being noticed. Or so she thought. When she saw a settlement in the trees, contrary to the village on the ground, something sharp pricked her in the neck and she lost control over her body, tumbling to the forest floor as her wings stopped flapping. She hit the ground with a loud thump, the pain preventing her from blacking out. She was drifting in and out, still fighting to stay awake. Another thing pricked her in the neck, sending her under for real.

"No..." she whimpered, talons still twitching.

The last thing she heard was:

"Bring her to Queen Glory."

_'Who's Queen Glory?'_


	9. Captured

"Your majesty, this unauthorized Rainwing was caught stalking our group after we visited the Nightwing village last night. We asked around as to who it may be, but we have no leads," one of the more serious Rainwing guards reported.

Glory inspected the mystery dragon whilst pacing back and forth. It was still unconscious and pinned under a net for her safety. None of the Rainwings knew this dragon, despite the close-knit community of the tribe. Honestly, she was surprised her Rainwing guards had this much initiative, though, she wished to have been informed earlier.

"You know, I didn't think having these Rainwing guards mentored by you would make this big a difference in mannerisms and ability," she mused.

Deathbringer stood by her side, unresponsive. That usually meant he detected an anomaly. Glory eyed the unconscious dragon again. This was the second strange arrival in recent times.

_'Strange arrivals. First had new, dangerous powers. We'll have to see about this dragon. Though, I can't help but wonder if it's merely a coincidence or part of a larger plot,' _Glory mused, watching the colors on the unconscious dragon start to fluctuate. _'Ah, about time. 2 darts don't usually keep a dragon under for more than 10 hours.'_

The captured dragon had started stirring, starting with twitching claws, then furrowing eye-ridges and lashing tails.

Piper woke up feeling something weighing her down as if her grogginess and soreness wasn't heavy enough. The light was blinding, and the moment her eyes opened, her pupils shrank to a hair to account for the flood of light. When she groaned and tried to push the net off, a commanding male voice spoke up.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," he remarked.

Piper looked up to see a black dragon standing next to the 'Queen Glory' if she remembered correctly.

_'Different flower crown from last time. Not sure why I care, but there's a thought,' _Piper noted, snorting at herself.

The queen finally spoke up.

"I'd like to ask who are you and where you are from," she asked.

Piper furrowed her brows in thought, trying to choose her right words.

"I'm Piper. From Tahlequah, Oklahoma, your majesty," she answered curtly, flattening herself against the ground to show respect, hoping to get on their good side.

The black dragon scoffed. The queen looked skeptical.

"Oklahoma? Tahlequah?" the queen slowly pronounced. "Where is that? Also, are you named after the sandpipers that can be found in the south of the rainforest?"

Piper swallowed. This was definitely a different realm. She cursed under her breath. "I'm not named after a sandpiper, no," Piper answered, giving the first question more thought.

The black dragon coughed.

"Uh oh. Somebody's cover is busted."

Piper just sighed.

"Look, I'm not a threat. The only thing I know is that that you are the leader around here and that you visited the village full of black dragons yesterday. I'm not here to hurt anyone. If anything I'm here against my will." Piper stated in a matter of fact manner while pointing at Glory.

" "Village full of black dragons" " Glory mused with air quotes. "Are you that clueless? You did mention you're not from around here, but there is no reason you shouldn't know what a Nightwing is. So, what's going on?"

Piper groaned, trying to find the right words.

"My friends and I are from another dimension. We were swallowed by a funnel from the sky and I woke up like this deep in the rainforest. I was observing your speech to the black dragons, or 'Nightwings' as you call them and then decided to follow you guys. I'm thoroughly lost and I don't know where my friends are and I'm worried about them," Piper replied, imbuing it with some charm speak, desperately hoping that she still had that ability.

The queen and the black dragon adopted more sympathetic faces, which Piper wasn't expecting. The queen was about to say something when a Rainwing soldier landed down.

"Queen Glory, a messenger from Jade Mountain Academy has requested your presence," the messenger announced curtly, prostrating himself before her.

_'Ok, it's Queen Glory for sure,' _Piper confirmed mentally.

"Oh? Hold on a second here, Piper. What's the news from Jade Mountain?" Glory asked the messenger.

"There was a bombing at the Academy. 2 dragons are dead, and several more are missing, Kinkajou and Moonwatcher among them," the messenger said hurriedly, making himself appear smaller in front of the queen in case she had any wrath.

"WHAT?!" Glory roared, before groaning and planting her face in her talons, forcing her emotions under control. A few moments later, Glory spoke up again, this time in a quiet, near whisper. "Are Kinkajou and Moonwatcher the only missing dragons?"

"The entirety of the Jade Winglet, minus Prince Turtle, is missing," the messenger answered, still cowering.

"Three moons, this is bad. I thought I sent enough soldiers to keep the academy safe! Any information on the aggressors?" Glory asked, tapping impatiently on the wooden pavilion.

"Nothing yet. It's expected that one of the headmasters will contact you with more information at a later date," the messenger said.

"Great. Just great," Glory grumbled. "You're dismissed."

The messenger bowed and flew off.

Queen Glory turned to face Piper again.

_'The queen had white and green bloom over her scales for a moment, though it quickly faded. I wonder what that means. Given the news, probably worry,' _Piper wondered. The news was certainly disturbing, but she wasn't in a position to do anything.

The queen looked at Piper for a moment, likely thinking. Piper winced slightly under the queen's gaze.

"I believe you wholeheartedly, partly because something of this sort has happened already. I think we can accommodate you here in the rainforest. If you get out of hand, I might actually have to make Deathbringer do his job."

Deathbringer just flashed a hurt face to Glory.

Piper could tell there was some chemistry between the two.

_Thanks, mom._

"Now, _Piper _isn't a standard name for a Rainwing. It's more fitting for whichever tribe spends the most time at beaches, which would be Seawings. But I digress, I do believe the Nightwings have happened upon someone with a nonstandard name recently, and rather violently. He has been integrated here more or less, thankfully. I believe his name was Rico or something," Queen Glory continued.

"Nico," Deathbringer corrected.

Piper's eyes grew wide. Nico was here?

_Who else is here? Hopefully Jason and the others too. Thank the gods._


	10. The Capital

Jason touched down a decent distance from the city, bending the winds to soften his landing to the point where he barely disturbed the grass. He sat down onto his haunches and just observed the city, deciding to gather information first before throwing himself into the fray. His electric blue eyes flitted around, gaze transfixed on the metropolis.

The sprawling settlement wasn't walled, contrary to cities of this type back home, and Jason knew why. Homes and marketplaces were placed in an orderly grid-like fashion, and what seemed like some government or official buildings were dotted on higher ground within the city. Numerous dragons milled about, going about daily activities, like shopping, playing, going places in a slight hurry. The buildings stretched far towards the horizon, the sheer scope of the sight reminding Jason of historical depictions of Rome, one which the engineers and architects of New Rome tried so desperately to recreate.

Movement in the sky caught his eye, and he glanced upwards, seeing a formation of dragons flying high above. A closer look yielded armor that boasted a crest of some sort spears clutched in the talons.

_'Ah, a guard patrol. There is no denying that what is before my eyes is a capital city. Though, that only speaks to the nature of the civilization itself. The humans from before could never hope to match the dragons. The main goal is to get home, but I'll never leave without my friends,' _Jason thought resolutely. _'It would be best for me to start my search here, in this city, and work outwards perhaps. It'd be best to be flexible.'_

Jason took flight and flew towards the capital, opting to wander the city for clues or paths to take. He knew that historically, rulers tended to be corrupt, evil, cruel, etc. Usually all the negative adjectives he could come up with. Jason was just a few months away from taking over operations for all of Camp Jupiter, and so he'd carefully cultivated himself to not let power get to his mind. He would do everything in his power to be fair, generous, just, and brave. Now, he was here. He will still carry on his path of being a noble demigod, a proud warrior, and a kind leader. That meant finding his friends in the most reasonable, quickest way possible.

Jason started walking towards the city, still weighing the pros and cons of going into the city, minimizing time to find friends, everything, really. His current predicament could be described as a cruel joke, though that would be subject to change the more time he spends in this alternate dimension.

Jason made his way through the city towards one of the government buildings. He blended right in with his copper-colored scales and large wings, though he didn't have any meaningful encounter with the locals yet. No conversations. No information about their culture, mannerisms. It was just him in a sea of dragons. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find the task he set before himself a bit daunting, but he's always met challenges head-on.

"Thief!" a dragon roared. The crowd dispersed slightly, as the shrill voice cut through the afternoon bustle. Jason was immediately alert, eyes darting around to assess the situation. His gaze landed on a dragon running towards him, something clutched in its talons.

_'Ah, so that'd be the thief. Should I intervene?' _Jason wondered, waiting for another second, before taking action.

The scrawny thief was fly-hopping away from the shop owner as fast as he could. He kept glancing backwards. He really needed the item he had stolen. The word didn't sit right with him, but he was desperate. He was lost in his own thoughts and keeping distance between himself and the shopkeeper that he didn't notice the copper dragon with blue eyes rooted in the ground in front of him.

_SLAM!_

The thief barrelled right into Jason, who was prepared to take the impact. Jason had tightened his core and widened his stance, his wings held at ease. He knew that if he had his lightning, he'd have his half of his father's immortal blood in him, meaning enhanced abilities. Jason took the impact, his entire body sliding backward as the thief's momentum was canceled. His talons had dug a shallow trench in the cobblestone road. Jason winced slightly, but he knew he wasn't hurt. The thief, on the other hand, was a different story.

The thief groaned in pain. It felt like he ran right into a cliff face. His mind was spinning, his vision swimming. He knew he had to have broken something.

Jason looked down in concern at the thief. He hadn't meant to hurt the thief badly, but judging by the way the dragon was sprawled on the ground, blood leaking out of its nostrils and mouth, Jason guessed a broken snout and moderate internal trauma, as well as severe contusions in the shoulders, talons, and neck. A concussion too, probably.

"Thank you, stranger. Little shit made off with a whole damned pig!" the shopkeeper huffed, finally caught up, glaring at the broken thief. Jason paid him no heed, inspecting the thief carefully.

"How the hell did you take that dragon head-on and not end up like him?" a spectator asked. Jason paid her no heed, instead, shaking the thief gently.

"Hey, you there buddy?" Jason asked, concern tainting his voice.

"Why are you sympathizing with the thief you stopped?" the shopkeeper asked.

"I'm just making sure he's okay. I couldn't have predicted stopping him would lead to this," Jason answered, still trying to awaken the groggy thief.

"Hey, buddy. Buddy, can you hear me? You're okay, you're okay. Come on try and sit up."

"What happened?" the thief asked groggily, still pushing down the effects of the impact. His eyes widened, seeing the dragon that stopped him in his tracks.

"What are you?" the thief whimpered. "Please. My dad and I need to eat."

Jason raised an eye ridge.

"That's the reason for your crime?" Jason asked.

"Doesn't matter. He stole from me!" the shopkeeper roared.

"Let me talk to the thief first. I've got the situation under control," Jason answered, suppressing a flicker of anger.

"Pretentious bastard! He stole from me! Give me the pig back!" the shopkeeper yelled. "I've got a family to feed too, stranger!"

Jason looked between the two, then a lightbulb went off in his head.

_'I had a drachma in my pocket. I should still have it,' _Jason thought, ruffling through his neck pouch.

"Take the coin, and forget this ever happened. It's pure gold," Jason said, flicking the coin to the shopkeeper, who caught it deftly. The shopkeeper looked it over and weighed it in his talons.

"Hmmph. It's not any currency I recognize, but gold is gold," the shopkeeper remarked, before turning tail and leaving.

Jason gingerly helped the thief up, who still clung to the pig. "The food is yours. Let's get you to the hospital. In the meantime, tell me about your father."

The thief looked at Jason warily but caved mentally. The thief pointed Jason towards the nearest hospital, about a 6-minute walk away. Jason helped the thief hobble over.

"My father was a soldier during the Sandwing War of Succession," the thief started.

Jason knew better than to ask about the war, knowing that keeping it personal would reduce the likelihood that his cover would be blown. "What injuries did he suffer that would cause his inability to provide for you. Actually, answer this question first. How old are you?" Jason asked.

"I'm already 6 years old. I would have found a job if there were actually jobs around. I'm not really good at anything..." the dragon answered. "Dad was actually a lucky dragon as far as soldiers go. He was unscathed for the first 8 years as a soldier. It was the last 2 years where he lost his front right talon due to frostbreath from a battle with Icewings, and his wings were shredded by 'merciful' Seawings. Those slimy fish. They didn't know that shredding a Skywing's wings and sparing his life is a fate worse than death."

Jason nodded.

"Thankfully, the war ended 10 months ago, along with the end of Queen Scarlet. I blame her for everything she dragged this entire kingdom through. Thankfully her daughter, Queen Ruby is much kinder. She's done much to recover this kingdom from the bloodshed," the thief continued.

Jason nodded again, choosing his words carefully.

"So, wouldn't she have programs dedicated to helping veterans?" Jason asked.

"Well, yes, but the resources are spread really thin. Scarlet's entry to the war cost us thousands of dragons throughout the war. The economy still hasn't recovered from wartime status. The queen knows raising taxes will only worsen things. The kingdom needs time to recover before it can provide for everyone again. But that gap is where my father and I fell through the cracks. You can see that I'm starving. You should see my father," the thief growled.

"Sounds rough. I was lucky enough to avoid all that. Well, we're at the hospital," Jason announced. The pair walked in, and Jason explained everything to the reception. A nurse came out shortly and whisked the thief away.

"I pray you to have a speedy recovery and hopefully veteran benefits and a job for your father and you, respectively. Sorry about hurting you so badly," Jason said, dipping his head in respect. He turned and left the building, feeling accomplished.

_'There is no war, the queen is kind and just, if not spread a bit thin. Some dragons are shrewd, though that's no different from back home. Information on nearby tribes of dragons, too,' _Jason summarized internally. _'What's your next step? There is still no clue as to where your friends are. Since I'm going to be here for a while, well, I already know what I do best.'_

Jason walked up to some nearby guards and asked, "Do you know where the recruitment office is?"

The guard turned to look at him, pondered for a moment, then said, "Go back down this road, then take a left where the market place is. Keep going, and the recruitment office should be on your left. You should recognize it."

Jason smiled warmly and thanked him before heading off, being sure to follow the directions closely.

"Name?"

"Jason, ma'am."

"Jason? That's a wack ass name. You sure, son?"

Jason chuckled. These dragons probably don't have the traditional naming method that people had.

"Yeah, its Jason, and I'm sure of that. My mom got creative," Jason lied while chuckling sheepishly.

After answering a bunch of questions, getting measurements done and rudimentary strength tests, Jason finally reached the end of the enlistment process.

"Alrighty. Report here tomorrow to be shipped off to boot camp."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"My pleasure, Jason."

Jason thanked her again before leaving. The sun was nearing the horizon by the time he'd filled out all the paperwork and got accepted. He flew out of the city and perched himself in a small overhang overlooking the city. Everything and everyone was winding down. He could still hear all the activity, though there was much less than in the afternoon. He could enjoy the sunset. Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the calm, feeling the soft wind brush his scaly face. He wished it could rustle his hair, but there was none of that here.

_'Father, keep me safe and keep my friends safe. Guide my hand and my foot as I tread unknown waters,' _Jason prayed.

He shuddered slightly. Could his dad even hear him all the way out here? Anyhow, he already laid his plans out. It seemed clues as to where he was, and where his friends were are hard to come by.

He rested his head on his forearms and drifted to the land of sleep. That was when the vision started.


	11. Together Alone

Percy pushed through some low-hanging branches in his way as he and Annabeth made their way through a dense pine forest, along the banks of a large river. All the fins and sails on his body, along with his sensitive gills made traversing a forest filled with branches at the right height rather painful, but Percy pushed through. Annabeth was right behind him, making mental notes about small features in the land so that they wouldn't get lost. They had set out at sunrise and had failed to find anything of note so far, and the sun was already starting to set, the edges of the sky turning red and orange. Neither of them was in a talkative mood, spending most of the time tense and thinking. Consequently, the trip was marked only by their talonsteps and the ambient sounds of wildlife and water living as though nothing had ever happened.

"How nice would it be to be one of those animals, always oblivious and never having to worry about anything at all?" Percy mused out loud.

"They would have to worry about food and predators where humans don't," Annabeth stated in a matter of fact manner.

"They never have to be put into situations like these. They aren't important enough," Percy replied.

"They also aren't smart enough to really care. I'm sure you would want to keep your intelligence, at least what little you do have," Annabeth joked.

Percy turned towards her and glared at her, while giving a mock laugh, making sure it sounded extra unenthusiastic.

"Funny haha moment, Annabeth."

Annabeth's eyes widened.

He kept walking forward, which was a mistake, one which announced itself with the ground slipping away from under his talons.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried out.

Percy didn't process what had happened until he started to fall. He froze with shock and fear when he realized. He held his wings out and tried his hardest to flap. Percy screamed.

"FLY FLY FLY COME ON!!!!" both Annabeth and Percy shrieked.

The ground was flying towards him. He tried his hardest, he really did. He flapped his wings, held them out to glide, screamed hocus pocus like Harry Potter, everything. He somehow didn't see the lake at the bottom until he was most of the way down. He reflexively held his talons out and willed the water to catch him. It worked, but the cold washing over him and the impact of the water still jarred him. Safe under the water, he took a few moments to breathe, before resurfacing and giving a victorious roar. Annabeth let out a breath she had been holding, laughing and cheering in sheer relief. She took a few deep breaths, before jumping off the cliff, much to Percy's dismay.

_Annabeth you stupid idiot._

Annabeth had other plans though. She recalled all the books of flight physics she had read before. She thanked her prior experience flying with Dadeleus's winged marvel. She pivoted her wings correctly to trap air, then glided down to meet Percy and the shorelines, slowing down and angling upward to land.

"Good gods, Percy. Don't go walking off of a cliff on me, how does that sound?" Annabeth managed to stammer out, still jittery from the fear.

"Sorry, dear. You had me distracted if I recall correctly," Percy retorted. "Also, can you teach me to fly? Those were some sick moves."

"I'm just glad there was a lake at the bottom. Imagine what you would be without, huh? A pile of red mush, if your insides are red," Annabeth choked out, angry. Percy took the fact that he almost died very lightly, and this upset her greatly, especially since it was partly her fault. She should have warned Percy about the cliff, or not taken his attention. There was an awkward silence as both processed a bit of what just happened. Annabeth collected herself, pushing down the fear and willing herself to calm down while Percy was still a bit confused about what happened.

_Actually, teaching Percy to fly would be good. We would also be much more efficient at finding something noteworthy._

Annabeth broke the silence first.

"I'm probably rusty at taking off. I just remembered the books I read and that one time we flew with Icarus's wings. It was gliding. I'm more than happy to teach you how to at least glide because I don't want you turning into mashed potatoes on me."

Percy nodded in agreement. He climbed out of the water and willed the water off. He was still thinking long and hard about what Annabeth had told him. He could have died. Granted, it was partly her fault, but his manner towards the event certainly wasn't helping. He sighed.

"Hey, Annabeth. I, uh, wanted to say sorry about being an ass and scaring you half to death. My fault for being so careless."

Annabeth also sighed. "What's happened has happened. Just don't make the same mistake again, ok? I almost lost you today and I would never have forgiven myself. I'm sorry too, for distracting you."

She was quiet for a moment before continuing. "I want to make up for that mistake by teaching you how to fly."

She motioned for him to come closer, before setting her talons on his wings and explaining the mechanics behind gliding. About taking off, that was more complicated.

"I'm not entirely sure how to take off. I'm going to flap my wings really hard, and see what happens."

Annabeth gave her wings a few small flaps, before adjusting her footing, lowering her body to the ground, and then kicking off, while vigorously flapping. She applied some technique from gliding to get air under her wings. Soon enough, she was hovering above the trees.

"Percy, did you see that! Join me up here." She yelled.

Percy tried to copy, to some degree of success. He bumped into a few branches, but soon enough, they were both hovering in the sky. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. Together, they looked around. It was just forest, forest, and a little more forest on top of that, on and on and on, as far as the eye can see. But that was just above the trees.

"What do you think we can see from the top of that cliff?" Percy said.

"Seems good to me," Annabeth replied. They continued hovering for a moment before Annabeth flew up while calling back to him. "Well, what are you waiting for!"

They touched down at the top, and needless to say, the view was amazing. A two-pronged mountain speared into the sky, clearly hidden by the very cliff they are standing on. Below them, a marshy plain existed just left of the forest. To the right of the forest, what seemed to be a rainforest sat, slowly melting into the pine forest they'd been trudging through at the beginning of the day. They had made their way up one of the many small foothills that surround the large mountain chain. The sun was just beginning to clip the mountains, casting soft rays of yellow and red all over the land.

"Which way do you think we should go? The marshes to the left, the rainforest/forest to the right or the giant mountain behind us?" Percy asked.

_It is a possibility that every single one of those locations would have something noteworthy, hopefully, our friends or more dragons, friendly too, if the gods will allow that._


	12. Of Dragons and Dreams

Jason opened his eyes to a blank world, confused and only partially lucid.

_This wasn't where I fell asleep! Where am I!? How did this happen?_

He tried to move his arms, his head, his jaw, anything, but only found that nothing obeyed his will. He even tried to look around but found his eyes couldn't move either. They couldn't focus either. Everything was a haze in front of him, and everything felt like jelly. He was a prisoner in his own body. Jason started to freak out, but his thoughts were muffled, just like his control over his body.

"Jason," An entity called out, slowly.

He opened his mouth to say something, to scream in horror, but again, nothing obeyed him.

"Jason," The entity repeated.

Something materialized in front of him, and his eyes finally focused together. Everything was still a haze, but a window of sorts appeared. He saw a blue dragon tumbling off a cliff, screaming, flailing around. The scene ended right before the ground appeared in the view. A black dragon with snowy wings punching a tree in frustration, screaming. A pink dragon with swirls of white trapped under a net, surrounded by guards.

"Your friends," the entity hissed.

"These have already happened. No telling what will befall them, or is there?" the entity continued.

"Free me. I will make your wildest dreams come true."

Jason hissed internally. He struggled, willing his body to move, his eyes to focus on the black blob in front of him, near the window. Nothing worked. Suddenly, he was jettisoned from his dream, as though something exploded in front of him. A blinding light greeted him.

_What's happening?!_

Jason squeezed his eyes shut and held his wings in front of him. The light died down. He cautiously opened his eyes and was greeted by familiar red scales. He blinked a couple of times, trying to clear the spots in his vision before shaking himself like a maple leaf in the wind, relishing the feeling of being back in control. Jason looked outside of the cave. The sky was dark blue, but he could see light snaking over the horizon. He stretched himself one final time, warming his muscles up, then flew out of his sleeping cave, enjoying the whistling wind washing over him. He settled down near a mountain peak and watched the sunrise. Warm light pushed back the cool night air as the 3 moons, originally bright, faded into the lightening sky.

_Wait, three moons? Good gods, where am I?_

Jason sighed; there was no use to think about these things. It was time to go do what he has set for himself.

The city was still warming up. The sounds of wings flapping and talons tapping that clouded his ears yesterday gradually filled the city once more as Jason navigated to the barracks. He entered and met the same dragon as yesterday, for entry training. He greeted her warmly and made some small talk before he received a location to fly to, as actual training would happen there. The current location was just a military garrison for the capital. He would have to fly to the edge of the 'Claws of the Clouds' mountain range to begin formal training.

Jason clutched the assignment scroll in his talons as he took flight, making sure to not get lost. As he got lost in the menial task of flying, he thought back to that chilling dream. What was that black shape? It seemed to him that his friends were in trouble. He could definitely see the blue dragon being Percy and the pink one being Piper.

_Percy, your element was always the water. I just hope you are alright._

_Piper, beautiful as the brilliant sunrise, what did you do to get captured? I wish I was there for you like I always was before._

Jason snapped out of his cloudy-minded state. The fort was just ahead. Located up in the mountains, where the air grew thin, lay the imposing walls of the primary barracks of the Sky Kingdom. When he touched down, the sun was already far up the sky, but it wasn't noon yet.

Jason entered the fortress, handing his scroll to a scowling dragon near the entrance.

"Down the hall and to your left. The schedule and all military issued items and devices will be on an empty bunk. Good luck, cadet," the dragon answered gruffly, before muttering "I hate this job."

Jason disregarded the guard's mutterings and instead headed towards the canteen. There wasn't much a dragon needed to live. He had his armor and some personal items. He somehow hadn't eaten anything in all his time here so far, and he was ravaged with hunger. Time to see what the dragons ate. Only, a captain barred his entrance to the canteen.

"Not so fast, young dragonet. Older cadets and officers eat first. Newbies like you get the scraps," he ordered.

Jason was rather taken aback. "What?" Jason demanded.

"I wouldn't argue with me if I were you," he retorted.

_It's just my first day. What kind of loser bullshit is this? No need to escalate further, however._

Jason huffed and turned around and returned to his bunk, and sorted things out, taking mental notes of everything.

"If what the captain says is true, then I did a good thing by not questioning him further and establishing myself as someone who questions authority, but it's still a bullcrap rule. If what he says isn't, then I'm just gullible," he mused out loud.

"Oh, you're just gullible. Everyone knows that that captain is an asshole," someone behind him said.

Jason whirled around.

"I'm Amber, nice to meet you. If you were curious, it's my second day here, so I obviously know everything," Amber continued.

"Everything?" Jason asked.

Amber chuckled. "Come on, you're so uptight. I'm joking. Anyhow, that captain does it to every cadet as a kind of test. I fell for it too, didn't know any better."

Jason just stared at Amber.

"You're telling me I missed out on lunch?" Jason asked.

"Get settled, cuz you're gonna be here till dinner," Amber replied.

"Great," Jason muttered.

Stewing in the bunk room flew by faster than Jason could comprehend, and it wasn't long before dinner started. Jason glared at the captain while he was in line, but the captain didn't notice. Turning back to the food line, he was rather shocked at the options.

_Omnivorous. Interesting._

After dinner, he was lying on his bunk, talking to his roommate. He was glad that each room only has 2 dragons. He lucked out with his roommate, Amber, who didn't have any bad qualities, it seemed. As it turns out, dragons were always named after an action, an animal, a color, or something along those lines.

"I guess my mom was just creative," Jason said, hoping he would buy the lie.

Amber chuckled, a sound Jason could never get tired of.

"Gee, I wish my mom was that creative! She named me after the color amber because I am amber-colored! Creativity 100, am I right?" he said while laughing.

"This might be slightly unrelated, but you can find some pretty cool stuff in amber, like scorpions or ants," Jason said.

"I know. I actually have an amber earring with a snake inside, though I left it at home," Amber replied.

"My older sister has a matching one, though she always wears her, even through military training," he continued.

"An older sister of mine sacrificed herself to save her friends," Jason said as sadness washed over him, reminding him of just how alone he was all this time.

"Well, that got depressing real fast. Well, sleep tight and don't let the scavengers bite," Amber said before blowing the lamp out.

_I sure hope I don't see that entity again. _Jason thought as his mind flickered out and he entered the peaceful world of darkness. He was going to be here a while.


	13. Pink Surprise

After receiving some unexpected blessing from the Queen of the Rainwings and Nightwings herself, Nico decided to make himself at home a short walk from the Nightwing village in a secluded area, next to a small waterfall. He knew the Nightwings won't be up in his grill like last time after he made a terrifying showcase of his power, so he knew he would be at peace here, at least from the Nightwings. He didn't know what other horrors lived in the jungle.

Unfortunately, Nico had yet to figure out what the storm was, why he is here, and what he is to do to get back. He scowled and pushed it away, to the back of his mind, as he did most things that troubled him. After setting up a small shelter on the forest floor by observing the Nightwings, he settled down a bit and decided to have some fun. Pulling the skeleton of a small cat out of the ground, he gave the creature a will of its own, effectively reanimating the skeleton indefinitely. Now, he has a companion. After completing all this work, he took a deep breath, listened to the constant murmur from the waterfall, and relaxed.

"Do you know where he lives?" Piper asked.

"After making peace with him, he sort of just sauntered off after giving his thanks. He could be anywhere in the rainforest, and I promised I wouldn't send any of my dragons after him," Glory replied.

"He'll understand if I was with you guys," Piper said. "Please, your highness. I need to find him," she continued.

Glory sighed, and took a deep breath. This dragon was getting on her nerves. She thought for a second, before having an idea.

"You can ask the Rainwings, or I can send Deathbringer to accompany you if any Nightwings get aggressive. If you don't find him then, you are free to look around by yourself. There are many more urgent matters for me to attend to, including the sudden disappearance of my friends from a school I sent them to, bombings and attempted regicide at said school, and then their sudden appearance in the rainforest when they aren't supposed to be here," Glory huffed out.

Piper was about to make a comment about maybe that is why she and her friends showed up but decided the Queen was probably worried enough.

"Alrighty Miss Friends With Bad Dragons, ready to go search for your friend?" A voice mockingly said.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up. Are we ready to go?" Piper replied.

"Yep. If your friend here goes all savage on you, I'm not to blame."

The trip to the Nightwing village was quiet and uneasy.

"Deathbringer, do you remember which dragon was attacked by Nico?" Piper asked.

"I was going to say he's all thin and wiry, but that would be every darn dragon here," Deathbringer said. He paused for a moment to think, then continued. "Ah, this hut. Go in, do what you gotta do."

Piper walked in to find a dragon huddled up in the corner, shivering slightly despite the oppressive heat.

"Um, hello?" Piper said to the dragon.

It just looked up at her with fearful eyes, before letting out a whimper and he tried to put his head back down, but Piper wasn't having any of it. She grabbed his horns and positioned his face towards her. Using her charm speak, she asked, "Do you know where your attacker went?"

The dragon's eyes glazed over slightly, before pointing in a direction and replying in a monotone voice, "he went that way after Queen Glory defused the situation."

Piper smiled. She was getting somewhere at least.

"Thank you."

Time to go find Nico. She waved Deathbringer over to talk and told him she got the intel she needed. He can return to the queen. Piper turned towards the direction the dragon pointed to, and headed off, pushing through bushes and leaves. She soon heard a waterfall.

_Would it be wild to assume he decided to live next to a waterfall? Probably not. He needs that white noise._

"Nico?" she called out tentatively. She waited a few moments, but there was no response. She called his name again. Still no response. She pushed into the clearing and saw a little structure near the base of the waterfall. Nico had to be there. She knocked on a post that held it up, and a black dragon appeared, seemingly out of the shadows. She jumped a little bit at the skeleton cat that appeared at his feet but recovered quickly.

"Nico?"

"Who are you? I thought I told the queen no one was supposed to come after me!" Nico said, slowly growing angry at the queen's betrayal.

"What?! Nico! It's me! Piper!" she exclaimed.

"Piper?"

"No. I'm Jason," Piper said, trying to lower her voice to match Jason's, but failing miserably.

"Yeah, didn't need that," Nico said, before giving Piper the honor of seeing a small smile.

He had truly thought he was alone here. What a welcome surprise. 


	14. Which Way?

As Annabeth got herself into a comfortable position in the cave they were planning on sleeping in for the night, she decided to talk with Percy about which way they should go tomorrow while he was getting some rudimentary bedding set up.

"Where do you think we should go, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm not sure why you are asking me. Usually, you would be making decisions like this. It probably doesn't help that we don't have any gods, creatures, or prophecies telling us what to do," Percy said, chuckling slightly.

"We don't even have much of an end goal here, so...yeah," he continued. 

"Chiron did say that he came here once, but he came back before it got 'fishy', as he put it," Annabeth said. "So the end goal should be making our way back home. No telling what we need to do though."

Percy sighed a bit and looked down. So confusing. 

"We got sent here by a stupid tornado. Put into dragons in a land with three frickin' moons, without our friends, and we somehow have to make it back without guidance. Ugh," Percy whined.

"There's the old you. Always wanting a clear answer. I'm with you on that. Still. Which way should we go? I bet the rainforest would suck. Full of spiders," Annabeth said, shuddering as she remembered her time in that spider-filled cavern under Athens.

"That two-pronged mountain seems pretty legit to me, but I'm not on board with going so far into the sky. Even if Zeus isn't here. I'd rather spend my time in the oceans," Percy said.

"Wait, that made me realize something. We haven't seen any other dragons beside each other. You were underwater when you first woke up, and your body has adaptations for an aquatic lifestyle. Perhaps there are other sea dragons?" Annabeth mused.

"Are you suggesting we go our separate ways to find other dragons? Because I'm not cool with that," Percy stated.

"Eh, not necessarily. I think going to the mountains might be a good idea. Largely because many stories and myths of dragons that I've read or heard about seem to have dragons living in the mountains."

"Seems like sound logic to me," Percy said, as he put the final touches on the mat. He plopped down on the mat and beckoned Annabeth over.

"Ready to catch some Z's?"

"You bet," Annabeth replied as she lay down next to him with a big yawn.

The sun has long since left this world in darkness as the moons shone brightly above. 

"Wow, your scales are so smooth. I think I might use you as a pillow!" Annabeth exclaimed while poking Percy.

Percy had his head down already, curled around Annabeth. She put her head on his shoulder and drew her wings in. Percy draped his wings over her and pulled her a bit close.

"Has anyone ever told you the star patterns on your wings are lovely?"

"We haven't met anyone else, dummy."

"Mhm," was all Percy could manage out before drifting off to sleep, curled around the one he loved. Annabeth quickly followed suit, falling into a deep slumber.

Annabeth opened her eyes to blue-white rays of light flashing wildly around the cavern. Percy was up already. She closed her eyes and rubbed them furiously to get the spots out of her vision.

"Percy, just why?" she whined.

"I found out I could do it this morning. Check it out. I got patterns on my face, wings, and pretty much my entire body. The ones on my face look like white warpaint. Rar! LIT! I want to get back at you for dragging me out of bed the other day," he said, grinning ferociously while lighting up the stripes on his face. 

"Alright, alright, ya got me. Shall we eat?" she asked with a small sigh.

Percy's face quickly lost its enthusiasm. 

"We literally haven't eaten since we got here. Fudge. What do our bodies even need?" Percy said. 

"I think I saw some deer in that forest on our way up. Let's try that." Annabeth suggested. Stalking through the forest, trying to stay as quiet as possible, they eventually laid eyes on the prey they were looking for. They remained at some distance to formulate a plan.

"Since there are two of us and one of them, what's your plan, Annabeth?" Percy whispered in her ear.

"You could chase it in my direction once we're in position," Annabeth replied. 

"Nuh-uh. I'm not sure about you, but I wouldn't feel like eating with 10 twigs stuck in my gills," Percy hissed.

"So I chase the deer into you and you blind it with your light show like you did this morning, then," Annabeth whispered flatly. 

"We have wings you know," Percy said. "It would make it a lot easier to just chase it into the open.

"We don't know how fast we are, I think this plan will work the best," Annabeth said. 

She turned around and scampered off. Percy backed up a little to be at the end of a small clearing in the forest. After what seemed like a few moments in silence, his ears perked up. The sound of rustling and galloping grew louder. Percy crouched and prepared to throw his wings open.

"NOW!" roared Annabeth, trailing behind a deer running for its life. The deer leaped over a bush into the clearing that Percy was waiting in.

Without warning, he flared his wings and channeled all his energy into lighting his body up. Annabeth lifted her wings up and closed her eyes in the nick of time. From the outside, it seemed like lightning had struck the location, but when the light died down, there was no burning or charred anything. Just two dragons and a deer on the ground thrashing around in agony. 

Percy pounced and sunk his talons into the deer's neck, ending its misery.

"There, all done," he concluded.

"Sheesh, you almost took away my vision too," Annabeth breathed out, still high from the sprint.

"It was your idea after all."

"I'm surprised you had the initiative to find a clearing, seaweed brain," Annabeth teased.

"Don't underestimate me," Percy said with a laugh. Annabeth glared at him before lowering her head and biting into the carcass. Percy winced slightly.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Annabeth demanded, her maw red with still-warm blood.

"Um, actually nevermind. You can have this one for yourself," Percy said with a dry heave.

"You sure? It's fresh," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Percy replied. After stripping the animal to the bones, Annabeth burped, a small flame erupting from her mouth. 

"Pardon me."

"You could have cooked it for me!" Percy exclaimed.

"Can't you do that yourself?" Annabeth asked, slightly lightheaded from eating so much so fast.

"I'm a water dragon for the gods' sake! I can't summon fire willy-nilly!" Percy whined. "Now, why didn't you cook it?"

"I didn't even know I could do that. I'm just as surprised as you. I just ate it raw because I didn't know I had the fire," Annabeth retorted.

Percy huffed, disappointed that he missed out on food.f

"Hey, hey, I'm not heartless. We can go find another one and I'll roast it for you the way you like it. How do you like your meat?" Annabeth asked, sensing his disappointment.

"Well done," Percy replied with a sigh.

"Uncultured," Annabeth said.

"No, u."

After sating their voracious hunger, they flew into the mountains according to plan. Specifically, towards the two-pronged mountain. Someone or some dragon had to live there. 


	15. Scavenger

After a filling meal of deer, Annabeth and Percy were speeding towards the two-pronged mountain that jutted into the sky, flying over blurs of forests, streams, and rocks. Of course, this was mostly a bet on Annabeth's part. Hopefully, dragons did live in the mountains as they did in Western mythology.

Percy was getting fatigued much faster than Annabeth, falling behind her, head drooping. Percy didn't know it yet, but he needed more water than Annabeth, due to his biology.

_Oh jeez. So thirsty._

Percy was panting rather heavily at this point, even though it just dried him out even more, his throat starting to burn. Unable to ignore the discomfort any longer, he decided to ask for a break.

"Hey, Annabeth. I'm really, really thirsty right now. Can we find us a stream or something?" Percy huffed, then coughed harshly.

Annabeth looked over shoulder to see Percy with his head drooping, struggling to flap his wings and panting rather hard, his azure scales starting to lose color.

_Perhaps his biology requires more water? I'm perfectly fine. I guess that one drink of water in two days isn't healthy for him._

Annabeth looked around. They were still flying over the forest, so there must be a stream somewhere.

"Alright, let's go find some water. You don't look so dandy right now," Annabeth said, before gliding down to the forest floor, careful not to hit any branches. Flying wasn't a good way to find water with all the trees.

Together, they plodded along the forest floor, listening for water. Luckily, the mountains hosted many small streams, so they didn't have to search for long.

Percy hungrily gulped down the water, letting the coolness run down his parched throat, savoring the chills all along his body. He let out a contented sigh after several moments of pure drinking. Annabeth just watched in curiosity. She'd never seen Percy so relaxed. She smiled, then leaned down to drink some water too, relishing its coolness, though not as much as Percy.

"Well, that did some wonders for you," she chuckled.

Percy almost let out a moan from the satisfaction of drinking water.

"Yep. Hold on, let me jump in," he said.

Annabeth huffed. She thought he was just getting a drink. No. He was now splashing around like a toddler in a ball pit.

Somehow, through all the splashing, she heard some rustling nearby.

"Percy! Keep it down. Stay here, I'm going to go investigate something," she whispered to him.

Percy stopped moving immediately.

"Let me come with you. It could be dangerous," he said, before clambering up the rocky bank of the stream and willing the water off.

He tip-taloned in front, trying to remain as silent as possible. He heard more rustling. He held up a talon to tell Annabeth to stop, before going up to a tree and peering around with his fairly long and flexible neck.

A human? Percy narrowed his eyes to try to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Yep, it's a human, picking berries no less!

_People live here? Holy shit!_

He let out a strangled gasp of happiness before holding his talons over his mouth to try to stay silent, but it was a little too late. The scavenger looked over at him, and time froze for a moment. Time resumed as a scream cut through the air. The human stood up, dropped everything and ran for its life.

_Damn it._

He instinctively called out. "Wait!"

The human froze, then tripped over a root. Hyperventilating, it turned to look at him once more with shock and surprise painted on its face.

Percy huffed. _What's so surprising? You probably don't even understand me._

"Do you understand me? Is that why you stopped?" he said tentatively.

The human looked at him with even more shock. A pregnant silence permeated between the two. The human was silent in awe. A dragon speaking its language. Percy was silent in awe. A human in this dimension. The silence was cut by Annabeth coming over.

"Percy, what did you find?" She said before even rounding the tree Percy stood next to.

"Percy, answer m-" she was cut off by the sight of the human. The silence was born again. Both sides were processing each other.

The human cut the silence this time.

"Yes. I... I understand you," it shakily answered Percy's question from many moments ago.

"Wow, just wow," Percy breathed out.

Annabeth shook herself from her trance and started firing questions immediately.

"Are there other dragons around this area? What do you guys call that two peaked mountain? What's your name?"

She was about to continue when Percy cut her off.

"Annabeth, stop. It's probably freaking out right now," he said.

He then turned towards the human and approached slowly.

"We mean no harm," he said softly, smiling without showing his teeth as a sign of nonaggression, seeing as the human originally tried to run from him.

"What's your name?" he continued.

"Felix," the scavenger replied shakily, his voice wavering.

"I'm Percy and this is Annabeth," Percy added, knowing that names humanize.

"I know," Felix said.

"Right," Percy said, acknowledging the human's observation of him interacting with Annabeth.

"Where are you from?" he continued.

Annabeth decided to cut in again.

"Probably the north. Felix is a name derived from Scandinavia, much like Sven or Joergen," she stated.

"Alright, missus big brain," he teased.

"I am actually from a snow-covered region in the north," Felix said, affirming Annabeth's theory. "I was out hunting for the village when a juvenile ice dragon found me, and made me his pet, named me Bandit of all fricking names. I'm lucky he didn't decide to eat me."

"Ice dragon?" Percy gasped. "How many kinds of dragons are there? Also, did you say 'to eat'? No wonder you tried to run."

"7. I'm surprised you don't know," Felix answered.

"Well, me and Annabeth are sort of new around here," Percy said.

"Annabeth and I, seaweed brain," Annabeth chided.

"So, if you were a pet of an ice dragon, how did you get out?" she continued.

"After capturing me and making me his pet, he actually tried to be a good owner, warding off dragons who wanted to eat me and building me a super nice cage. Too bad I didn't want to be his pet, so I didn't make use of it. He also tried to get me to eat raw walrus and seal. Disgusting. One day, he took me to a school filled with dragons of all kinds. My most traumatizing day, actually, even more so than the day I was captured. A sand dragon, a friend of his I presume, let me out, then suddenly it seemed like all the dragons in the world were chasing me. Turns out, some dragons actually understand that humans don't like raw walrus and seal. I'm just glad the colorful dragons from the rainforests are herbivores. She knew, unlike the ice dragon, that humans prefer fruit to frozen walrus. Oh, also there was this black dragon that like stared into my soul and protected me from all the dragons. I want to meet her again; aside from the rainbow dragon, she is my next favorite. I also had the unfortunate experience of being dunked in a river. After a week or so, when it was raining, he took the cage outside, opened the door. It was raining and sucky, so I tried to stay inside, but he roared at me. So I ran away, came all the way over here and was lucky enough to find a small settlement. So here I am," Felix said.

"Sounds exciting," Percy said.

"It's not. Really scary if you ask me."

"Say, where is this school that your former owner took you to?" Annabeth asked.

"At the bottom of Jade mountain, or the two-pronged one as your friend here described it as," Felix said.

"So I was right, Percy. Dragons would be in the mountains," Annabeth snarked to Percy.

A moment of silence followed. Annabeth was shocked Percy didn't say anything about her declaration of being right.

"Guess we will be on our way now," Percy said to Felix.

"No, not yet. I still have to ask you something!" Felix objected.

"Why can I understand you. All the dragons I've had the displeasure of meeting only growl, snarl, roar or something along those lines," Felix continued.

"We really aren't from around here. We're sort of humans. Just transported here by suspicious means and put into these bodies," Annabeth answered, holding up a talon and making some random gestures to get her point across.

"Now I'm just confused. Sort of humans? Put into these bodies?!" Felix asked.

"She means sort of human as in half-human. We're half-gods. Demigods," Percy said.

"I don't think I understand. What about you makes you a half-god? Do you know what you are saying?" Felix demanded, getting slightly angry.

"Greek gods. You don't know?" Percy asked.

"Never heard of Greek gods" Felix answered.

"Norse gods? Like Thor or Freya?" Annabeth asked.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Felix said. "Now, what about you makes you half god?"

"Her half-brother's uncle is Thor," Percy said. "My dad is God of the seas and horses, but not one of your Norse gods," he continued. "Her mom is the Goddess of wisdom."

"Prove it," Felix said.

Percy picked Sven up and deposited him next to the stream, before beginning his water show. Felix watched in awe as Percy did various tricks, such as making sculptures with the water. He even splashed Felix, and after some protests, willed the water off.

"You can ask her anything, and I bet she has the answer to it," Percy declared.

Annabeth gave him a dirty glare. "Not everything, but I do have a decent amount of knowledge on pretty much anything."

Felix thought long and hard about something he was certain Annabeth wouldn't be able to answer.

"How big is the sun?" he asked.

"Big can mean many things, Felix. Diameter, weight, stuff like that," she replied.

"Are you dodging the question?"

"No, I want you to be more specific."

"Diameter."

"1.391 million kilometers, 109 times that of this planet, assuming this is Earth," she answered confidently.

"What is 'kilometer'?" Felix asked.

Annabeth stooped down, using her talons to get some rudimentary measures of Felix.

"A kilometer is one thousand meters. You are about 1.8 meters tall for reference," she replied.

"Alright, quit the flex, Annabeth. Let's go on our way now," Percy said, as he took one final drink of water, before readying himself for flight.

"Where did your owner go after he let you go?" Annabeth asked. The base of Jade Mountain wasn't a precise enough answer for her.

"Right before I left the cage, after his first attempt to get me out, some dragons came up to him. He looked like he was crying and certainly wasn't happy to see them. After a rather aggressive conversation of sorts, he roared at me. I bolted but watched from the bushes. They actually headed away from the mountain where they resided, that way," Felix said while pointing opposite the direction Percy and Annabeth were originally flying.

Annabeth thought for a moment, then thanked Felix for the directions. She decided flying to Jade Mountain was still more sensible than going after a rogue group.

"Nice to meet you Felix, but as Percy said, we are probably best to be on our way now," Annabeth said, before joining Percy in the sky and flying off.

_Half gods who came here as dragons. How weird is today?_

Felix watched the two dragons fly off before returning to his village with his basket of berries. He had quite the story to tell the others. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you get the Pewdiepie reference? If you didn't, I diagnose you with small brain.


	16. Revelation

Jason stood at attention, making sure not to fall out of line with much older recruits who had spent far longer at the academy. He was at a graduation ceremony, having completed military training far before anyone else in his class, and with honors too. His prior time serving in Camp Jupiter's army and time as praetor certainly worked to his advantage here, and Jason was beaming in pride. Just a few days in, and he has already received his first assignment! He remembered Amber's shocked face when he told Amber that he was graduating, only a week and a half in. They were sitting on top of a grassy hill at sunrise that morning when Jason broke the news to Amber.

"Three moons! Jason. Hot damn!" he had said, admiration glinting in his eyes, the smile crinkling the soft scales adorning his face.

Jason could only look sheepishly at Amber. He wasn't used to so much praise.

"You're almost too good to be a new soldier," Amber told him. Jason's smile waned slightly as he got nervous. He didn't want to reveal his 'past'. It could ruin everything. Jason managed to hide his anxiety by steeling his face, but his mind was racing.

_Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it!_

"Can you tell me your secret? How do you do it? I wish I was as good as you!" Amber asked in admiration.

_NOOOOOOOO!_

There was a long and awkward silence between them. Jason's face morphed as his fear was displayed for Amber to see.

"Uh... erm... good genetics?" Jason managed to stammer out while trying to appear smaller.

_Seriously? What a crappy excuse._

"Aw, come on Jason. You were so out there during training! You knew what to do. You inspired everyone here, including me. Hell, I bet you even blew that grumpy officer away! I swear you've probably had prior training. Genetics is so bullcrap. Tell me the truth, I want to know!" Amber exclaimed.

"Keep it down, Amber," Jason hissed.

Jason looked down at his talons and fidgeted them nervously for a moment, then looked at Amber with pleading eyes.

"I really want to keep it to myself," Jason whispered sadly. "I understand you really want to know, but it would probably affect the way you see me. It's Pandora's Box, you know. Once you open it, there's no going back."

Amber just gave him puppy eyes, completely disregarding what Jason said about Pandora's Box. Jason averted his eyes, ashamed. They'd become really good friends over the short time they knew each other. Training didn't give them much time to talk, but when they did, it was really fulfilling and meaningful. They talked about all sorts of interesting things. Recipes, family, nice places to see, what they planned for their future. He managed to navigate away from questions about his heritage and his mysterious appearance in this realm so far. Yet, here he was, shirking away from what seemed to Amber was an innocent question.

Jason sighed, pouring out all his stress, and recomposed himself. Amber was stupidly stubborn, and this time, it would work in his favor.

"Later. During lunch or something," Jason said, resolute in his fate. "Just not now. I need time to think, and the ceremony is in about half an hour and I shouldn't be late for that."

Amber thanked him, then walked back to do whatever he needed to get done before lunch, wearing a grin and getting giddy inside. He would finally know why Jason was so dominant in training. He was already getting 'shipped' off, for moons' sake. What was even more intriguing, was that Jason really didn't want to tell him. What was so shameful about the prior military experience? It only built the anticipation, and with that on his mind, the ceremony, the clapping, the announcements, it all flew by as lunch quickly approached.

Jason waited for Amber on the agreed spot down at the beach, a bit weary from the ceremony. He could always get lost looking at the horizon. He sighed again, preparing himself for the difficult conversation ahead.

_I guess I was just that impressive to Amber._

Jason looked up after hearing the distinct sound of flapping.

_My time has come._

Amber looked down at Jason with child-like excitement. He touched down rather dramatically, striking a pose, before running to Jason, eager to find out everything.

"Care to tell me? Tell me! I get it is kind of touchy, but you can tell me, right?" Amber asked. "I'll keep it a secret. I promise, Jason. You have my word."

"How should I start. It's really convoluted," Jason said, wracking his brain for a good way to start off his explanation. He really should have thought about how to conduct this conversation. The calm, commanding, and driven facade that he'd put up so far during his time was cracking. Amber knew something was wrong.

"Take all the time you need. I'm not hungry," Amber said with a small chuckle, dragging over a piece of driftwood with ease and sitting down with his elbows on said piece of driftwood, as though he was listening to a lecture. He thought it might calm Jason down a bit. Why was he so nervous? Is there anything shameful about some prior military experience?

_Unless he was booted from somewhere else. I guess that could be shameful. Sort of?_

"I sort of woke up on the side of a mountain, you know. I was just 'there' all of a sudden. No family, nothing familiar, nada. I'm not from here. I was never a dragon my whole life," Jason said, recalling the first time he awoke in this strange land.

"Fascinating. What were you? What about your family and friends you keep talking about? Made up?" Amber asked.

"No. Far from that. Everyone I talked about was real. Just, we weren't dragons. We were... those" Jason said, pointing at a pair of scavengers watching them.

"I'm one of those," Jason repeated. Somehow, he wasn't shocked humans lived here. Amber, on the other hand. He flipped shit. His jaw practically hit the ground.

"You're joking, right? Not just a dragon with amnesia or anything like that, right? Right?!!" Amber exclaimed hysterically. The serious look on Jason's face told him otherwise. His acquaintance and roommate wasn't even a dragon. He was a scavenger.

"I'm a 'scavenger' as you guys say. Though these are far inferior to the ones back home," Jason continued, unfazed. He put a talon to his jaw inquisitively.

"Actually scratch that. I'm half-scavenger," Jason added.

"Half? What the hell does that mean? What's your other half? I haven't even asked you how you got here!" Amber half-shrieked. It was getting out of hand. Horror and shock swept over his face and never faded. He was about to continue when Jason cut him off.

"I told you you wouldn't want to hear. But we are here now. Calm down. I'm still your buddy from training, your roommate, the whole deal," Jason said assuringly, putting a talon on Amber's shoulder. "Take a deep breath, Amber. Calm down," Jason repeated. Amber looked up at him. His face was ashen, tears threatening to spill over, and his hunched posture tried to make himself shrink away from Jason. Jason realized Amber wasn't going to calm down all that easily. 

_Time to go into commander mode, unfortunately._

Jason stood up straight and barked at Amber. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Stop blubbering and let me finish, will you?"

He finally got Amber's attention again. He felt bad for yelling at him for so natural a reaction, but Jason had no choice. He sighed, before sitting back down. No going back now.

"Amber, please, please calm down. I'm still me," Jason said warmly, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. Amber could only manage an inaudible nod.

_Chose the wrong way to start. Just summarize then let him ask questions._

"Let me get the basics down. I'm a scavenger. I was transported here by mysterious means. My consciousness was put into this body. I'm a dragon for the meantime. Joined the military, rest is history. I'm still me, your friend, your peer, the whole deal, as I said earlier," Jason stated. He waited a couple of moments for Amber to collect his thoughts. Amber was stabilizing. His breathing slowed slightly, color returned to his previously ashen face.

"Ask your questions, one at a time," Jason said.

"O-ok... Are the family and friends you talked about real?" Amber asked shakily after a moment of silence between the two.

"Yes. 100%. I'm not sure if they are here. They got stuck in the same 'portal', like me. They may be here. They may not be. I don't know," Jason replied. As the questions were answered, the shock and horror slowly melted away from Amber's face, and a look of uneasy understanding and acceptance formed. Jason was in the military where he was from. He was a general equivalent, though Jason called it a 'praetor'.

"You're avoiding the elephant in the room, Amber," Jason added after Amber said that he 'didn't have any questions left'.

"You're a half scavenger," Amber said in defeat. "What's your other half, though I probably don't want to know now."

"I'm half-scavenger, half-god, Amber," Jason said.

"God?"

"Maybe this will help you understand," Jason said. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," Jason assured Amber after seeing Amber back up.

With that, he flicked his talon down and called down a lightning strike from the clear sky onto the sand, creating glass where the lightning struck. Amber shrieked in surprise and held his talons to his head to stop the ringing from the thunderous noise. Jason called down lightning from thin air. Amber was hyperventilating again, but he managed to get himself together.

"I've seen enough. Can I go now? Won't tell anyone. Just want to think," Amber said, before bolting. Jason opened his mouth to say something, holding his talons in front as though to grab something, to hold on, but it slipped through, and Jason sat back in regret.

Jason sighed and looked down at the monotonous sand in shame, tears dribbling out. He started drawing lazy circles in the sand to try to distract his mind. Maybe he shouldn't have told Amber, but it happened. He suddenly remembered the two humans staring at him and Amber. He snapped his head up and looked at where he last saw them. They were still there. This time, they ran, feeling Jason's gaze pierce them. Jason was faster.

_Rather, my winds are._

Jason floated the scavengers to in front of him. They squirmed and screamed, but Jason really didn't care at this point. He wasn't planning on hurting them anyway. He just wanted a close look. Couldn't hurt.

"I hope you liked the light show. Didn't know people lived here," Jason said to the scavengers, as he looked over them. They just gave the same look of surprise Amber gave him when he called down lightning. A silence followed, interrupted only by the whistling of the wind.

"What am I doing? They don't even understand me. Probably just a bunch of retarded things," Jason muttered. He just floated them there as he looked another way lazily, thinking of what to do. He wasn't slated to leave till afternoon. He was cut from his repetitive thoughts by a quiet sound. Jason almost missed it.

"Yes, we do."

Jason snapped his head back at the scavengers. One was glaring at the other, but they both looked back at him with terror.

"Great, you've done it for us. Now it's gonna eat us, whether it understands us or not. You idiot!" one of them shrieked at the other.

"I'm not going to eat you guys," Jason said.

"Just because I'm a dragon? Did you hear what I said to Amber?" Jason asked.

He let them down onto the sand.

"Go. Do what you gotta do. I'm busy," Jason shooed them.

_Cool, they understand me. So what?_

Jason turned and flew back towards the barracks. He had things that he needed to do. Including reporting to the leader of the barracks, before leaving on his first assignment. Escorting the queen to an undisclosed location, and perform a body retrieval. The commander didn't specify whether or not it was the same mission. He hoped it was separate. 


	17. Tears of Carnelian

Jason was now well on his way to the Skywing palace. His first assignment as a freshly minted soldier was to escort the queen to an undisclosed location. Seeing the spires of the palace jutting into the sky, Jason banked and glided down to an entrance of the palace, which was a marble platform built on the side of the palace. Flapping his wings, he landed softly and reported for duty. He was directed to where the procession was set to leave in less than an hour. As Jason walked down the hallways, he took the time to admire the beauty and elegance that permeated the palace. Soaring spires, piercing the sky like one of his father's thunderbolts, intricate details carved into its outer walls, shiny, almost glowing marble composed the floor, all linked together with endless hallways adorned with art, banners, and carpets, much like the one he was walking down.

_ Fit for a queen. 'My queen' for the time being.  _

Standing on the platform, in formation, Jason managed to get the location out of an officer, mostly because his reputation as a superb cadet preceded him. 

_ Jade Mountain Academy. Why would the queen go there? What's so special about this place? There are surely many more deserving schools here. _

He was still thinking when the guard next to him elbowed him quietly. The queen was here, in all her glory. He stood to attention and tried not to stand out. The dark red queen's gaze swept over the line of orange and lighter red soldiers. It landed on him.

"You look much younger than the others here. Pardon my curiosity, but why so?" The queen asked. Her soft gaze and voice ensured Jason's answer wasn't jumbled when he bowed in reverence and said, "I finished training much earlier than my peers, Your Highness."

The queen looked satisfied with the answer. Jason breathed an internal sigh of relief. No drama for the moment.

The queen strutted up to the edge of the platform, before turning back around quite gracefully, and stood tall, wings spread.

"I will be giving the orders today. None of your officers will accompany us on this trip for reasons I do not intend to tell you. It will just be the seven of us, " the queen said. 

_ Do not intend to tell you, huh?  _

They took flight, leaping off the platform one by one. The queen was in the middle of the formation. Jason was on the right of the hexagon formation. There wasn't much flying before the clouds thinned to reveal a jagged two-pronged mountain. A couple of moments passed before Jason could make out the shapes standing on a platform, much like the one he took off from. 

Jason saw a brown dragon standing next to a golden one near the middle of the platform. A copper scaled dragon emitting smoke stood far off to the side. Its posture gave away anxiety and anticipation. A blue dragon stood on the opposite end, occasionally glancing at the copper dragon. However, Jason knew they weren't here to talk.

The motionless body of a red dragon lay on top of a tarp, wings neatly folded.

The group landed.

The guard at the front of the group surged forward in anger, roaring profanities at the dragons standing there, before getting restrained by another guard. Jason and the other guards just stood on watch. One of the guards was talking to the queen He manipulated the winds to boost his hearing slightly. He didn't like what he heard of the hushed conversation the guard was having with the dragons. 

He glanced at the queen. She was furious and definitely having trouble keeping it together. The guard turned to the dragons standing there.

"I smell lies all over this story," the guard snarled. "First you tell us you're harboring a violent, bloodthirsty criminal, and then you show us a dragonet who has died in exactly the same way that creature kills! Quit shitting us!"

"Are you sure that abomination didn't burn Carnelian to death!?? Because those are burn marks, and only one single dragon can do that, and it's her!" Ruby roared at the brown dragon, whilst pointing a talon at the dragon with smoking scales. The smoking dragon seemed to cower. 

_ What? Who did what? _

The golden dragon spoke.

"No. Clay is right. Everyone saw. Carnelian and another dragon died in a dragonflame cactus bombing. Another dragon was injured, gravely. A whole classroom was trashed. If it weren't for action by a few of our students, more would have died."

"As much as I hate Peril, the fire wasn't caused by her. You have my very royal, trustworthy word," the blue dragon added.

"You want us to buy that a Mudwing set of a dragonflame bomb and accidentally killed a soldier loyal to Queen Ruby instead of her supposed target?" the guard from hissed.

Jason didn't hear anything else. Back and forth, the guards and the dragons there argued, but he didn't care. He tried to think about something else. He couldn't. He forgot how to breathe, how to think, how to react. He shook his head, trying to clear the disbelief. An empty feeling crawled across his chest. He put his head down to hide the tears.

_ Carnelian. _

He had heard that name before. He knew.

_ Amber. _

Jason desperately hoped that some dragons had shared names. His eyes roamed over the body of the corpse. An amber earring greeted him. His hopes were dashed, his heart crushed. How is he going to tell Amber, if he ever does? 

He had already put enough things to worry about on Amber's shoulder. Jason saw Amber storming off all over again, disbelief, horror, and grief written on his face. 

_ Stop. Make it stop! Stop! _

Jason shuddered, every fiber of his being shuddered. He curled his talons into a fist and squeezed with as much effort as possible to distract him. Blood dribbled down his talons, and Jason gasped. 

_ Oh, Amber. Amber, Amber, Amber. Why, why why? _

In this state, nothing happened around him. Until a fellow soldier shook him.

"Hey, hey. Keep it together will you? We can't have a blubbering mess with us," he said.

Jason blinked the tears out of his eyes then tried his best to regain composure, wincing slightly from the hissing pain in his talons. He was a soldier. He had a duty.

"Sorry."

"Your majesty!" a guard said. "Someone is approaching from the north."

"Queen Moorhen?" 

"No. I see orange scales..." the guard said before drifting off into silence.

A collective gasp of shock spread. A few guards murmured. 

Queen Ruby whispered under her breath, but Jason heard. He saw it on her face too.

"No. No, how? I thought she was killed!"

The orange dot grew closer, larger. Details came into view. A scarred face, a vengeful look. 

Everyone took defensive positions, as did Jason. All his thinking happened all of a sudden, in a rush.

_ Carnelian. Student, soldier, and sister to a friend. I told that idiot. I hope he can get over my revelation before I dump another on him. Oh, Amber. I'm so sorry. That smoking dragon's name is Peril. Carnelian was caught up in something not meant for her. Who is this dragon? Why is everyone so- _

"Traitors!" the orange dragon roared with fury. "All of you! Disloyal dogs! I will destroy all who oppose me! I will have my vengeance and I will have my throne back! This dragon is only the start. You'll all be next!"

She threw the object in her hands, then whirled around and bolted.

_ Civil war? What is this? Wait. A head? _

The group fell into pandemonium. The golden dragon keened with loss. 

"Queen Glory? What? How?" a dragon asked through the pandemonium. 

All through this, the frustration, guilt, feelings of uselessness and pain had been building inside Jason. Simmering under the surface was a vast pool of rage and wrath, and now it boiled. He roared in catharsis, putting all his energy into that roar. Whoever this dragon was, he would go after her. He had justification, based on what he observed. With that, he roared once again and took off after the dragon, flapping his wings with a passion. He didn't even care at this point. All caution was thrown to the wind. 

He surged forward, sparing a single quick glance backwards. He saw a blue form right behind him flapping with all her might, as well as the rest of the guards. He looked forward and realized he wasn't getting any closer.

Huffing, he directed the winds to push him forward. It wasn't long before he caught up to the dragon. He used his fury to fuel his lightning. 

The first bolt knocked her out of the sky and burnt her badly. It wasn't enough for him. He called down bolt after bolt on her broken, burning body. 

The other dragons had stopped and watched in shock as he pulverized this dragon. He roared in fury and victory after what seemed like an eternity of lightning. The entire area had been charred by the heat. 

_ Wow. I have NEVER felt that good in my whole life.  _

He panted, exhaustion hitting him like a truck as the adrenaline rush subsided. He felt lightheaded from the blood rushing to his head. He tilted his head back to try to get rid of the lightheadedness, but all that happened was a red haze spilled all over his vision. Gasping from the sudden blood flowing out of his eyes, he tried to clear it out, but it hurt. So he sat in the burning dirt, head buried in his bloodied talons as red dribbled down his arms. After the pain subsided, he looked back, tiredly, to see the shocked faces of all the dragons who had followed after him. He looked at them, confused. It took him a while, but when he came to, a single word escaped his mouth.

"Shit."


	18. Trail of Ice I

Nico sighed as Piper excitedly dragged him by his forearm away from his secluded safe haven next to a shimmering waterfall. He wasn't enamored with having Piper drag him back into the public and towards the dragons he had made a bad impression on. He liked the quiet, secluded, alone nature of his humble abode.

"Piper, you are on thin ice here," Nico hissed.

"I know that already. Quit dragging your talons, already. We have a queen to talk to," Piper shot back.

"About what? You haven't told me shit. Just said you needed me urgently for some bullcrap? What could be so important as to talk to the queen?" Nico asked angrily.

"Nico. Maybe you know this already, but both you and I came here alone. Separated. We would have gone crazy if we hadn't found each other. We are the only anchor to our previous life. You were happy to see me, and so was I. That means our other friends could be here. Now, there was a bombing that was reported recently and a lot of drama going on to top it all off. We are heroes and always have been. We could find the perpetrator, and from what I heard, the bombing was far from here. We might possibly find our friends on this journey. Is that important enough for your emo butt?" Piper said.

Nico thought for a moment, then growled, but he obliged. He vehemently hated being wrong. Finally putting some spring in his step, they made it to the Nightwing village in 'record time'. Not to the happiness of the populace, though.

All of Winter's senses were on high alert, ready to spring into action as he and his group of temporary allies walked into the Nightwing village. His eyes darted around, fully expecting plotting and battle training, but was met with ordinary things like clearing the forest floor, washing fruit, cooking, or building. He could tell the Nightwings were uneasy, all occasionally glancing towards a pair of dragons talking near the border of the village. It was a Rainwing and a Nightwing. Why would the Nightwing village be uneasy of two dragons that are essentially native to the rainforest? Either way, Winter would hate to live here.

_Something about that Nightwing seems off._

His thoughts were disrupted by Moon flying across the clearing and barreled into a tall, wiry dragon, face lit with joy and relief. This dragon looked like Moon, minus the silver teardrop scales.

"Mother!"

"Moon!"

Moon's mother wrapped her wings around Moon with fierce affection. Winter felt a small jealous twinge, longing for the same parental affection that Moon was receiving. He angrily pushed it down, trying to chalk it up to Nightwings being inferior, but he still watched the reunification with a small internal warmth, cracking his beliefs. Icewings, especially royal ones didn't need that fluffy crap! Moon and her mother had begun talking, and Moon started to look ashamed. She hugged her mother once more, before turning to introduce him and the others to her mother. However, her eyes grew wide.

"No, stop! He's not-" she shrieked.

_What?_

Winter was suddenly pushed into the ground with a loud thud. His throat was wrapped in black talons, his body pressed by a seemingly unmovable weight, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"Don't bother struggling, Icewing," said an unfamiliar voice. "You're under arrest."

Winter roared with unparalleled fury. He squirmed, trying everything in his power to get himself out of that position. However, his attacker had immobilized him thoroughly and completely.

Piper and Nico stopped their conversation about how to approach the queen regarding the bombing and what happened when Nico first came into the village when they heard roaring. They looked to see a white dragon pinned by Deathbringer, with various dragons looking on in mild interest and confusion.

"Don't bother struggling, Icewing. You're under arrest."

Nico had been secretly eyeing the new group. The Icewing hadn't done anything threatening. It just stood there the whole time. It was unjustified, in other words.

"Hold on Piper. I'm going over there to deal with Deathbringer. He attacked that dragon without a reason. On top of that, they could be the missing dragonets from the academy, you never know," Nico said.

Piper glanced at Nico, before looking back at the scene, a small smile forming on her face. Nico was actually taking the initiative now. He was on board now.

Moon and Kinkajou tried desperately to reason with Deathbringer, but he wasn't having any of it.

"He's on our side!"

"Stop it! Get off of him!"

Winter screamed that he was going to murder Deathbringer. Deathbringer was about to shoot back a witty reply when someone cut in.

"Oi, oi oi. What's going on here?" Nico asked, contempt at Deathbringer.

Deathbringer turned to see Nico. All aloofness in his attitude was gone. He snarled angrily. This dragon cost him his dignity in front of Glory. Nico was going to get it after he dealt with this Icewing.

He turned back to Kinkajou and Moon. "We heard there's an extra-dangerous Icewing on the loose right now. I'm going to keep sitting on this dragon until Glory arrives with further instructions."

"Perhaps I didn't make myself heard. What is going on here," Nico repeated.

"None of your business, Nico," Deathbringer hissed.

"What are you going to do? Sit on me like you do this Icewing. He didn't do anything wrong, as far as I'm concerned," Nico shot back.

Moon was grabbed by her mother. "Get back, this dragon is dangerous," she hissed to Moon quietly.

"What? Why? He's helping my friend."

"He nearly killed a Nightwing, then defeated a whole squadron of Rainwings plus Deathbringer singlehandedly. He has these weird, but super powerful abilities. If it weren't for Glory, we'd all be dead!" Secretkeeper exclaimed under her breath.

Moon didn't know what to say about that. She couldn't read this dragon's mind. It was all darkness, haze, and death, not unlike Winter's mental wall of ice. Kinkajou just looked at Secretkeeper in curiosity.

"What happened here while we were at school? This dragon sounds super-duper mysterious!" Kinkajou asked Moon's mother.

"That dragon appeared a few days ago, and nearly killed a dragon for calling him an Icewing bastard. He is just all-around scary and screaming death," she said with a shaky voice.

They turned back to Deathbringer. He was angry and glaring at Nico. Nico returned the glare tenfold.

"Get off this dragon. Don't make me force you to."

Every single dragon in the vicinity turned towards the group, and an uneasy silence settled on the entire village.

"Is it because he is an Icewing, you bastard child?" Deathbringer snarled, venom dripping from his voice. A dragon screamed and ran.

"I... what? You can only blame yourself for this," Nico stammered, before surging forward, talons up. Suddenly the whole village fell into pandemonium. Before Deathbringer could make any moves, the whole area was silenced by a new voice.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Glory roared as she descended from the sky. "What are you doing, Deathbringer! Why are you here, Nico?!"

Nico ground to a halt.

"Saving you, protecting the rainforest, sitting on a very cold Icewing. You know, the usual," Deathbringer said from on top of Winter.

"Bullcrap. This ice dragon did nothing wrong. The attack was completely unprovoked," Nico said.

"Nah. You attacked a villager unprovoked as well, hypocrite!" Deathbringer shot back.

Nico bristled. "It was justified. No one stomps on my heritage; you did."

A hushed murmur spread through the village.

"Stop arresting my guests. It's not romantic or heroic. It's annoying," Glory said, after a moment of thought.

"Get off this Icewing, Deathbringer," Glory ordered. As Deathbringer did as told, she turned to see Nico.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were living quietly by yourself somewhere around here."

"She dragged me here. Wanted to see what we could do regarding this bombing she overheard a little while ago," Nico said while pointing over his shoulder without even looking.

"Looks like she found you," Glory remarked blandly before turning around to Winter.

Winter charged at Deathbringer, but Glory stopped him. She took one of Winter's talons in hers, and pressed lightly, and dipped her head in a small bow.

"We are very honored to have Queen Glacier's nephew with us. I sincerely apologize for the outrageous behavior of my brain-dead bodyguard. This shameful treatment should not have befallen you. I will ensure his punishment in a creative fashion."

She looked up once more to see all the shocked faces of the villagers.

"Get back to work. It's all taken care of," she ordered.

Winter huffed. Now that Deathbringer was out of the way, he forgot about why he was here momentarily. He wanted to talk to this mysterious dragon. Winter glanced at him, eyeing his various features. Black scales all on top. However, the underside of his wings was white, as were his horns.

"Fascinating," Winter said to Nico. "Why would you help me? You're half Nightwing."

"I really don't care what percentage what dragon I am. Not that I know. Deathbringer attacked me unprovoked as he did you. Lucky for me, there isn't much he can do to me. I hate that dragon, good gods," Nico replied.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Deathbringer sing-songed while flying away, towards the royal pavilion, quashing the slight embarrassment that flowered in his chest, a feeling usually reserved for Glory.

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual. What's your name, mysterious dragon?"

"Nico."

Moon and Kinkajou, as well as Qibli, observed in interest. This new dragon was definitely strange but seemed friendly enough.

Off to the side, Secretkeeper, having watched the exchange, decided it was safe now, and let Moon go.

"I will be here if you need me," Secretkeeper said. "Be careful."

"I will mom. Don't worry about me that much. I'm fine," Moon assured her mother.

Nico was about to say something to Winter when Kinkajou decided to go ballistic.

"Wow wow wow! You went toe to toe with Deathbringer?! Why does all the awesome stuff happen when I'm not there?" Kinkajou whined.

"Nico doesn't like loud noises. I would suggest bringing the noise down. Now, from what I heard, it seems like you guys are the dragons from the bombings. What brings you here?" Piper asked.

"Indeed. On top of the bombings, there was also an attempted stabbing it seemed and a whole bunch of other things. Sunny told me some of the details, but I hope you can fill in the rest," Glory said. "Especially as to why you would leave school and come all the way here."

"Ooh, I can! Kinkajou offered, bouncing up and down. Nico shot her down though. He had enough of this rambunctious Rainwing.

"You're in as much trouble as Deathbringer," Glory said sternly. Kinkajou stopped bouncing, and blue splattered all over her scales.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Didn't Turtle tell them where we went?" Kinkajou cried.

"Yes, of course. It didn't help though," Glory answered with a snort. "Good news! Four of your students ran off to find a dragon who just tried to kill you to find another dragon who has tried to kill you a bajillion more times. Oh, excellent! Thanks, Turtle. Now we don't have to worry about a SINGLE THING! We were hoping someone would take care of this, preferably a bunch of 5-year-olds."

Moon hung her head in shame and reverence. "Sorry, your majesty. This was especially urgent," she said.

"5-year-olds?" Nico asked reflexively.

Everyone turned to look at him in confusion.

"What?"

"How old did you expect us to be?" Qibli asked.

"Not sure? I'm guessing something like 15," Nico answered. Though, from the looks on their faces, it was obviously the wrong answer.

"Maybe you aren't aware, but dragons are adults by 7 years of age," Glory said.

"How do you not know this? Did you not have parents? Or is it something else you would like to share with us?" Qibli asked.

"Well, my mom did say he had some abilities that gave him an edge to beat Deathbringer and several Rainwings," Moon added.

"He wrapped them in a cage made out of bones he pulled out of nowhere," Glory said.

The dragonets all looked at Nico with horror.

"We aren't from around here," Piper said. "However, that isn't really important right now. I dragged Nico out here to try to see if we could be helpful, especially with all the drama about murders and bombings. I think we can help you guys with what you guys are trying to do."

Kinkajou said yes straight away, giddy with excitement. How could she not? Nico had awesome powers.

Moon thought about it, before saying yes as well. She could read Piper's mind, and Piper seems genuinely interested in helping them. It was very clean and warm inside as well, a refreshing change.

Qibli raised concerns about their origin but eventually caved.

Winter obliged like he always did. Here he was, tagging along with dragons from other tribes. What difference does two more make?

"Looks like everyone is in agreement. We are here to look for my sister. I need your assurance that nobody will interfere," Winter said to the queen. She nodded the affirmative.

"The guards have been on patrol. Chances are they probably saw something. We will check in with them for intel, then you guys are more or less free to search for your sister," Glory said.

"Alright, we are set to go," Winter announced.


	19. Trail of Ice II

Nico shifted closer to Piper, shying away slightly from the group of dragonets that had come from the Academy.

The group had gathered on the royal pavilion located between the Rainwing village and the Nightwing settlement. It was a vast wooden structure situated midway between the muddy and overgrown ground and the canopy.

_Interesting design choice. _Nico remarked with a slight snort.

_A middle ground. _Piper thought, remembering the Rainwing village was located in the canopy.

The roof was composed of large, translucent leaves layered in a staggered pattern that kept the rain out but let the sunlight flood through to form a delicate mosaic on the wooden floor. Additionally, there were no walls, just twisting wooden columns that opened the pavilion to the air. On top of these basic elements, morning glory flowers hung like bells, peppering the intricate brown swirls and green patches with purple and blue; orchids grew in crevices to create little pockets of white or pink. It was truly a sight to behold.

After a short and more formal introduction from Glory and her pet sloth, Nico watched in amusement as Qibli and Winter bickered over a simple sarcastic remark. He also noted from Glory's chiding of Kinkajou and Moonwatcher that Glory was certainly more than she let on. He was snapped from his thoughts by a very sharp remark from Winter.

"Yes. I. Can," Winter hissed.

Nico was about to ask something but held it back after seeing conflict flit across Winter's face. Nico's proficiency at reading emotions told him strange messages. He saw sadness and pain when Moonwatcher looked at Winter, and he looked back.

Piper read that interaction like a book. _Certainly fascinating, though confusing, the way these two carry themselves._

"Well, here comes the guard," Glory said, oblivious to the tension.

Nico turned to watch in fascination as the air rippled and shimmered as several dragons seemingly manifested themselves out of thin air.

_I can definitely see how Queen Glory has an 'invisible' guard._

Nico glanced back at Winter. He was glaring in disappointment at the line of guards.

"I called you in to ask if any of you have seen an Icewing recently," Queen Glory said. "For those of you who don't know, those are white or blue dragons with spiked tails and a cold aura."

A Rainwing leaned towards the queen and hissed softly, "Your majesty, I believe there is one of them right behind you."

The line of Rainwings completely fell apart.

"Three moons is that what they look like!?"

"Why's it pointy all over?"

"Look at its tail! It really is spiky!"

"Woah, so weird."

A dragon reached towards Winter's wing, another for his tail. Nico chuckled, the scene reminding him of the story where blind men felt an elephant, but couldn't tell what it was. It was amusing how clueless these dragons were.

Glory sighed, slowly. "This is our guest, Prince Winter. Have you seen any dragons that look even remotely similar to him?"

"No," they all replied in unison.

"I would have noticed. Look at how sparkly he is!" A dragon added.

Others nodded in agreement and added their own comments about Winter's appearance.

"Permission to check on the Nightwing guards?" Deathbringer asked.

"Yes, yes. Do make sure if they see that Icewing that they do not engage, especially if they are on their own," Glory ordered.

Deathbringer bowed, then flew away, giving a glance to Nico. After a harsh reprimanding by the queen, both dropped their hostilities towards each other.

"That includes you, fool! Keep your claws to yourself!" Glory yelled at him as he flew off.

"Can't hear you!"

Piper fought the urge to laugh, but a small smile grew on her face.

"Um, your majesty, can I ask-" Moon timidly said, before promptly being cut off by Glory.

"Yes? Speak up."

"Even if they didn't see an Icewing, did they at least see something suspicious, like frozen or frosted over...." Moon blurted before trailing off.

"Well, there was this weird spot I saw earlier, under the oldest giant banyan tree. It was all shriveled up. All the plants in a circle were dead, sort of crusty and whit-ish, and everything was hard as rocks. It was cold too. Is this important?" A scout mused.

Winter flared his wings and reared up slightly.

"I know where this tree is. We can be there in a few minutes. You guys, stay here." Glory stated.

"Can't I come? I can be useful! I-" Moon stopped, struggling for words, visibly.

Nico was intrigued by this, as was Piper.

"Do you think she is hiding something?" he whispered to Piper. Piper was silent, but she nodded.

"Me too! I want to come!" Kinkajou squeaked, puffing out her chest and flaring her ruff.

"No. I'm ordering you guys to stay here," Glory said firmly.

Winter wished he could go by himself, but he probably needed someone to go with him. He probably couldn't beat Icicle. To be honest, someone who could sense Icicle's mind would probably be really handy too. He didn't want to admit it.

"Moon can come," Winter said after a mental defeat. "Not Kinkajou though. She's too loud. Far too loud."

"I am not! This is so unfair!" Kinkajou protested.

"Kinkajou, you wanted me to be queen, and now you have to listen to me. You have to understand I'm doing this to keep you safe. I'm going to be very mad if you get killed by an Icewing." Glory said with concern. Having quelled Kinkajou's flame of curiosity, she turned back to Winter and Moon with confusion.

"Yes, Moon, you can come along, as per Winter's request."

"I'm assuming our presence is to be assumed, then," Nico interjected.

"Perhaps," Glory said, looking at Winter.

"Yes, they can come too," Winter said.

Soon enough, they were flying through the forest, on the way to the site of mystery the Rainwing guard mentioned.

Piper was happy that something was moving along. Winter was complaining about getting caught up in vines, spiderwebs, just anything, really.

Moon could sense Qibli's mind behind hers, though said nothing.

However, Glory noticed.

"Alright, that level of noisy makes me think you aren't even trying to be stealthy, Qibli. You can come out," Glory said.

Qibli sheepishly emerged from behind a tree with huge leaves.

"Give me some credit. Blame all the things that get in my way!" Qibli protested. Winter agreed wholeheartedly.

"What did I say about staying put?" Glory asked.

"With all due respect, you are not my queen. Besides, Winter wants me along, don't you? You just can't admit it," Qibli replied.

"I don't. You can leave for all I care," Winter said.

"He loves me," Qibli sing-songed.

"Alright, enough arguing. Let's go. We don't have all day," Glory ordered.

Qibli and Winter both showed significant difficulty in navigating the environment. Piper and Nico were flailing around miserably. They decided to run on the ground, neither of them was comfortable enough to fly in the open, much less in this environment. Glory was more adept, but even she occasionally hit things. Moon navigated perfectly, however, like a seal twirling through the water.

Moon couldn't read anything from Nico, but he seemed to be getting more anxious. Piper wasn't thinking anything of significance. As they approached the large bulbous tree, the spot the Rainwing scout mentioned became obvious.

_Death._

Nico shivered.

It wasn't a neat circle. Patches of green marred the circle of dead undergrowth.

_Something or someone was blocking Icicle's frostbreath. _Winter realized with horror.

Nico could sense the body. The soul was unfortunate. Most souls were content, passing peacefully. This one was in agony. There was no need to search.

"Everyone, here," Nico said, pulling away the layer of leaves and dirt to reveal a dead, broken body, throat brutally slashed, and body frozen.

"She was here."


	20. Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"Shit."

Jason looked around in a panic. The fury and wrath was all but gone, vaporized by the lightning he had thrown down. Now, he could think clearly, free of a red haze mentally, despite the red curtain that still hung over his eyes.

He winced as he flashed back to his confession to Amber. His friend was shocked and horrified, not to mention ashamed for both crying and putting Jason in the unfortunate position of having to reveal something clearly personal. He remembered the still and dead body of Carnelian, whom Amber cherished and admired. He remembered his loneliness in all of this. No one to lean on. Nothing familiar. He remembered Piper's beautiful face, always present. He remembered the green eyes of Percy, corners always crinkled in a smile. He remembered all his life. His family. His struggles. His victories. Here. He had bottled it all.

_It hurts._

Jason was tired of holding it back. He kneeled forward, pressing his forehead to the cool earth below, cherishing the presentness of it, and let the floodgates open. Tears poured out as Jason sobbed in anguish. Alone, ashamed, afraid and confused, Jason cried. None of the dragons there to witness his victory over Scarlet mattered. It was just him and his emotions.

Tear by tear, all feelings left Jason. Soon it was just exhaustion. He looked up tiredly. He was met with shocked and horrified faces, not unlike Amber's from just yesterday.

"What was that?" a dragon asked.

"Why are you crying? Were you loyal to Scarlet?" another dragon asked.

"Did you see how he destroyed her? No way!"

Queen Ruby stood near her guards solemnly. Seeing the youngest, newest soldier rush after Scarlet, and now, kneeling on the ground, eyes red from crying and bleeding in front of a charred area where her mother's destitute body lay was certainly something new.

"Jason, was it? What happened? Stand up." Ruby said.

Jason stood to attention instantly but wavered a bit on his feet from as his head swam from blood deprivation for a few moments.

"Your majesty! I-I'm not sure!" Jason managed to yelp out.

"I think you do, Jason. What you did was beyond what a normal dragon could do. Tell us everything. What you did, why, how, everything. Don't leave anything out, Jason."

"Y-your majesty. It's really personal. Please. I already lost so much telling one dragon. Imagine what it could do if I told you! It will ruin everything for me. Please!" Jason whimpered, wrapping his wings around himself to hide his shaking.

Ruby raised an eye-ridge. "What? How exactly? Your power is dangerous if anything. Look at what you did to my mother. It wasn't even a fight. That was annihilation. How can I be sure you won't turn on us? My duty as the queen is to protect my dragons. Are you so adamant as to put an entire tribe against you? To make you a fugitive, an outlaw?"

"Your mother?" Jason blurted out.

Jason bowed his head. It was a desperate attempt on his part to show allegiance, for he was exhausted.

His existence here was a lie.

His friends, gone.

His home, gone.

His life, gone.

His struggles, gone.

His victories, gone.

All of it, gone.

_Never agai-_

"Yes. Though everyone benefits from her death. She was ruthless and cruel. Tell me, Jason. Or be outlawed like Peril," the queen ordered, interrupting Jason's thoughts.

Jason bit his tongue. He wracked his brain for ideas. Whether or not he told the queen in front of everyone won't change the outcome. He needed something else.

"I... I-" he stammered before being cut off.

"Your majesty! Something is going on back at Jade Mountain!"

"I can tell you later, your Majesty. Please, give me some time to regain my composure. It has been quite a day," Jason said quickly.

"I hold you to that, Jason," Ruby said, before turning and flying back towards Jade Mountain. He followed.


	21. Finding the Ice

"Moons," muttered Glory, looking at the ground.

The body lay in front of everyone, evidence of a brutal murder.

"This is bad, Winter. Very, very bad. Bad for your sister, bad for the peace of the rainforest, bad for everyone," she continued.

"The Nightwings are going to set their heads on fire," Qibli said, before putting a talon on his chin pensively for a moment. "No, hold on. They are going to set the closest Icewing's head on fire. I hope your skull is as thick as it looks, Winter," he added.

Winter scowled at Qibli.

Nico and Piper stood off to the side, wondering what to do. They could go search for the killer or stay put. Piper wasn't expecting a simple bomb at a faraway school to blossom into such a huge plot, with murders, attempted murders, some family drama, a past war, all that. It was rather overwhelming. Nico didn't really put much thought into that.

_Right here, right now. What to do... Am I stupid? Name? Don't know. Ask? Maybe..._

"Maybe I'm just stupid, but what is the name of your sister, Winter? We've come all this way and I still don't know that somehow," Nico said to Winter.

"Icicle," he growled.

"If she finds you guys, she will definitely massacre you all if it means no one interferes with whatever she is doing. Come, let's put you somewhere safe," Glory said, motioning towards the direction they just came from, back through the hanging vines and jutting branches.

As they landed back at the royal pavilion, Kinkajou met them, bouncing up and down like an dog that is greeting their owner after a long day after work.

Nico wrinkled his snout at her enthusiasm.

"What happened!? Will you tell me?" she squealed, scales shifting through the colors of the rainbow, as blinding as Times Square at New Year's Eve. "Did you guys find her? Wait. Winter looks mad. Does that mean you find her? No, wait, Winter always looks mad," Kinkajou said, before drifting off.

Piper chuckled at Kinkajou's obliviousness, before stopping after realizing it wasn't a funny situation.

Deathbringer was swearing up a storm, pacing around with excessive footwork as he tried to contain himself from damaging anything.

"By yourself?!" he roared at Glory. "With these incapable dragonets as 'bodyguards'?" he asked, throwing up air quotes to make his point.

Nico scoffed. "I'd argue you're more incapable than me."

"Dragons my age are seasoned warriors where I'm from," Winter added.

"Don't get your tail tied in a knot and horns in a twist, Deathy," Glory said. "You know my top-secret invisible guard was with us."

"But I wasn't," Deathbringer protested. Glory gave him what looked like a mix of a sad and exasperated look.

Piper watched their conversation with interest. Nico was studying the flowers climbing up the tree supports.

"You can't always be there for me. You need to trust that I can take care of myself," Glory pleaded. Deathbringer sighed.

"The important thing is that we know the Icewing was here recently."

"She is? Actually in the rainforest? Right here right now?" Kinkajou squeaked.

"Yep."

Winter looked dejected in the corner as if any mention of his sister was painful.

"We need to organize search teams. Deathbringer, you come with me," Glory stated, lightly brushing her tail with Deathbringer's. "In the meantime, I think the safest place is the dragonet wingery. I'll even double the guard in case Icicle shows up. We don't want any more dragons dying on our talons today."

Winter gave an indignant look before throwing out his wings and protesting. Nico looked around, as did Piper.

_What's a wingery._

"You can't lock us up with a bunch of newly-hatched dragonets! I need to look for my sister!"

_Oh. Fan-freaking-tastic._

Glory and Winter started a heated argument. Qibli knocked Winter down, leaned down and whispered something into his ear.

"She's not going to give in," Kinkajou said. Moon nodded.

"What of us, then?" Piper asked. "Do we go with them, or do we just roam the rainforest like none of this ever happened?"

"I guess as long as you don't actively search for Icicle, and don't tell anyone until this is resolved, then it's alright. It's not really like I'm in a position to make many demands," Glory said, casting a dark glance at Nico.

Before Winter, Moon, Kinkajou, and Qibli left for the wingery, Nico pulled them aside.

"Is there anywhere you want us to wait for you? Or help you with, since we won't be going with you to that kindergarten?"

They gave him a puzzled look. "Or wingery, as you guys call it here."

"You can wait for us right outside the wingery. Or at the base of a big tree near the waterfall not too far from here. I have a hunch that you guys should wait there," Moon said quietly.

Nico nodded, and they separated, the Jade Winglet to the wingery, and the demigods to the location Moon talked about.

When Nico and Piper arrived at the location Moon described, they were quite surprised to find it was the very place where Nico had decided to set up.

"How did Moon know this is where I live?" Nico asked Piper.

"You don't know that. It could be for something else," she replied.

Nico huffed, then sat down.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before Qibli, Moon, and Kinkajou appeared, followed shortly by Winter. Piper greeted them warmly, but Nico did not.

"Why does this place feel so uncomfortable?" Winter asked.

"I live here," Nico said.

"Wait, you do?" Moon asked.

"Yeah. I was kind of surprised when you told Piper and I to wait here for you guys. How did you know?" Nico asked.

"Again, Nico, you don't know that. It could be for something else. Stop accusing people," Piper added.

Moon looked uncomfortable for a moment, but Piper continued talking.

"How was the wingery?" Piper asked.

Winter rolled his eyes, as did Qibli, but Kinkajou started hopping, eager to tell.

"We met some super duper cute dragonets in the wingery, and we got them to play hide and seek with us, but I told them to count to one thousand to give us time, then Winter blasted the floor with frostbreath and punched a hole for us to escape through!" she squealed.

"Then we came to our agreed spot," finished Moon.

"This is the tunnel to the Nightwing island," Kinkajou said with a quiet, wavering voice. Her head drooped, as did her wings.

"Whoa, I didn't realize. You were one of the Rainwings they -" Qibli said before drifting off.

"- imprisoned and experimented on," Moon finished. "It's alright if you don't want to come with us. You can wait here, or return home or to the school. We understand if it's too - too anything, really."

Nico and Piper were shocked at this revelation of Kinkajou. For a dragon so bubbly, they didn't know her horrid past.

She gave them a look of determination. "No. I'm coming. It's alright."

"Why don't you hate them?" Nico asked. "After what they did to you?"

"They aren't my favorite dragons. Except for Moon, of course. Oh, and Deathbringer. He's pretty great. I guess it's because they are trying to change, and now that Glory is their queen, they won't do anything bad anymore."

"We'll see about that," Winter added with a small snarl.

"Sheesh, you sure hate them," Piper responded.

"Come, look at this! There is a leaf that has been squashed, and it looks fresh. So some dragon might have gone through this tunnel," Moon said.

They all came over and looked at it. Winter leaned down and sniffed, then thought pensively briefly.

"That's my sister's scent. It looks like she went through to the Nightwing island. Why? I may never know," Winter announced.

They slowly crept through the tunnel, the unsettling, muffling air closing on them, wrapping them like a blanket meant to suffocate and kill. The dark walls were freezing to the touch, but the air was hot, almost uncomfortably so. They huddled together to fend off fear and anxiety. As they passed into a cavern, their talons instantly sank into a layer of ash. Moon and Qibli breathed out a small plume of fire, illuminating the cavern. Shivers crept down their spines and a small gasp escaped from Kinkajou. In front of them, lay the form of a huge dragon, wings splayed and talons reaching towards them.

"It's ok," Moon breathed out. "He's dead. Whoever he is, he's dead. This is just a cast."

"I wonder who it was," Qibli asked, reaching forward, and tapping the talons.

Color slowly returned to everyone's face. They moved past the dragon back into a tunnel on the other side.

Nico cast a glance back at the shape of the dragon. He could sense the body in there, as well as the soul that once possessed this body. This dragon was burned and buried alive. Piper kept her eyes forward, wanting to forget that harrowing sight.

They broke free from the narrow tunnel. The sky was ashen, cloudy. The ground was sweltering. The ocean crashing in on all sides. A single mountain jutted into the sky, lava spilling out, or glowing through cracks. Melting, dripping, cooling, the whole island looked dead and alive at the same time.

"Who could bear to live here?" Piper asked.

A flurry of emotion flew through Winter's face as he gazed onward.

"Look at their fortress! Totally destroyed," Kinkajou said, pointing towards the volcano. There lay a wrecked structure, melted or collapsed on one side, falling apart on the other.

"I had no idea! I've seen the island in their heads, but I never felt this - mother never said - it's horrible!" She gasped.

"You saw in their heads? Would you like to come again on that, Moon?" Nico asked.

Everyone looked at him.

"Looks like I was right, Piper. She knew."

"I can't read your mind, I swear! It's all cold and dead in there, like Winter!" She protested.

"How did you know about where I live? Why is the tunnel right next to where I live? You knew!" Nico roared. "You knew! What have you seen in my head? Tell me!"

"Guys, we can't fall apart right now. Nico, you just have to trust Moon on this one. It's not like she had a choice to be hatched with this power," Qibli said, raising his voice to ease tensions.

"Imagine having your home devastated like this. Poor Nightwings," Kinkajou said.

"Poor Nightwings!" Winter exploded. "Are you serious? They deserved this! After what they did to you! After what they did to us!"

_Oh boy._

"Everyone! Calm down!" Piper roared over everyone, flooding their minds with her charmspeak.

An uneasy silence followed as everyone tried to rationalize why their bodies weren't under their control for a few moments. A blast of sulfurous smoke came from a vent and everyone moved back, coughing.

"Piper? What was that?" Qibli asked.

"Nothing," said Piper.

_'Charmspeak.'_

Moon decided to keep it to herself though.

They quietly trudged through the ash and black sand, tension as thick as the air around them.

Moon suddenly stopped them, before turning towards a dark tunnel.

"I thought I heard something here," Moon said.

"I sense a life force in there," Nico announced.

They soon heard scraping as the limping silhouette of a dragon slowly appeared through the smoke.

They have found her.

"She's not alright. Her brain's all foggy," she whispered to Winter. He watched in horror as details on his sister slowly became clear through the hazy air. Bloodshot eyes, almost solid blue at this point, streaks of mud, ash and blood, blue and red marring her body.

"Sister! Are you - " Winter managed out before she cut him off.

"Why are you here? To ruin something else, someone else? Aren't you already satisfied with the guarantee of your brother's death?" she snarled.

Everyone watched in confusion and horror as Winter and Icicle faced off.

"What's wrong with you? You look terrible!" Kinkajou blurted out.

"Ha! It could be worse! I could look like you," she retorted.

"I want to help you find Hailstorm. If he is still alive - "Winter reasoned.

"I don't need your help, of all dragons!" she snarled in response, cutting Winter off.

"What did Scarlet say?" Winter asked, spreading his wings to block her from leaving.

"I haven't spoken to her," Icicle said, swaying on her feet. "I can't... I don't want to see her... to admit I failed... your fault... what if he's dead?"

She staggered forward, unsteady on her feet. Winter leaned forward to catch her, but she snapped her teeth at him.

"She hasn't slept. Not since Jade Mountain!" Moon said in realization.

Icicle gave a small look of pride at everyone. "If I can't sleep, then Scarlet can't get to me. She can't visit my dreams of I don't have any!" she laughed.

"How do you stay awake for so long?" Kinkajou cried, almost as if Icicle's sleep deprivation hurt her.

"Whenever I get tired, I lie down beside the lava until the pain wakes me up," she said, turning her body to show them.

Everyone saw the blisters and burns plaguing her body.

"We need to know if she hasn't killed him already," Winter said.

"Do you know where she is? If we can get to her and find him - " he added desperately.

"No. If it were that easy I would have done it. All things considered, there is only one way to save him, and that's killing the Rainwing queen."

"Nuh-uh! I'm not letting you kill Queen Glory," Kinkajou said, puffing her chest out and flaring her ruff.

"Hah! How, you preposterous pink pest?" Icicle barked.

Kinkajou lunged at Icicle, flying past Winter. Kinkajou knocked Icicle down and wrapped her talons on Icicle's throat.

"No one threatens my queen!" Kinkajou roared, surprising everyone with her resolve and ferocity.

"Get off me! Icicle roared, talons reaching up towards Kinkajou's soft underbelly. Her talons were suddenly chained to the ground with bones. Bones began appearing out of the ground, locking Icicle in a cage of bone. It then began constricting around her.

"What!??" Icicle roared. She roared in frustration, pain, and hatred. Something small whistled through the air and planted itself in Icicle's neck. She gasped before her body started shutting down.

The scene around them morphed as 9 dragons of regal gold and red appeared.

"Icicle of the Icewings, you are under arrest for murder and attempted murder," Glory announced.

"No!" Icicle roared. "What's happening!? What have you done?"

"It's a tranquilizer dart. We find it makes transporting prisoners much, much easier. You'll wake up fine in a few hours," Deathbringer said happily.

"I can't sleep! Don't make me sleep!" She begged, lying on the ground constricted in a cage of bones.

"No!" she shrieked, again and again, before fading as her head slumped and her consciousness faded.

Winter leaned down and whispered softly right before Icicle drifted off.

"Tell Scarlet that if she can prove Hailstorm is alive... I'll kill Glory for her myself."

"Don't even think about it, Winter," Nico said dangerously. "Maybe I haven't told you, but I can also hear through what I have summoned.

On cue, the bones separated, before sinking into the ground.

"On a separate note, who is Scarlet?" Piper asked.

"Doesn't matter," Glory said happily. "We have reports from the current Skywing queen herself, Ruby. Scarlet was executed in a rather brutal fashion. Witnesses say that she was and I quote, hit by lightning many times."

"That doesn't seem like normal weather," Nico thought out loud.

"You are correct in that. Apparently one of her rookie soldiers in being questioned, as he was the first to reach her. They say he was the one that 'called down' the lightning," Glory responded.

"Sounds like bull crap, but what the queen says is what the queen says," Deathbringer added.


	22. Drama at Jade

The wind whistled in Percy's ear as he and Annabeth sped towards the jagged peaks in the distance. The forest below blurred into a mesh of green, brown, gray, and blue. Percy stared downwards, getting dizzy from the morphing and shifting colors. He liked it though, it helped pass the time.

Onwards they flew, as time dragged on. Percy getting mesmerized by the colors of the forest. Annabeth faced forwards the whole time, lost in her own thoughts, but still attentive.

It wasn't long before the finer details of Jade Mountain became clear, including a large cavernous entrance and several smaller dotting the side facing them. Dragons swarmed the area, all colors of the rainbow. Blue, white, black, red, green...

_Wow! That's quite a sight._

"Percy! Heads up. Looks like we found what we came for. Other dragons," Annabeth yelled over her shoulders.

"Aww man. I was just getting to the good part of the forest," Percy whined. He looked up and towards where Annabeth pointed, his pouty face quickly morphing after seeing what lay in front of Annabeth.

"You know, I'm starting to doubt going this way. What if these dragons are hostile? It's not like we have Piper with us to make them go all wide-eyed," Percy said.

"We've already come this far. We don't have anywhere else to go, and besides, I have faith in your water powers. Just don't pull what you did with Achlys, you know. That's scary," Annabeth replied.

They drew in a deep breath, taking a few moments to compose themselves, and prepared for the final stretch.

Percy pulled up besides Annabeth as the mountain quickly drew in.

"It seems like the dragons are in a frenzy. I need you to be on guard, Percy."

"Yes ma'am," Percy said with a chuckle.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes.

They started hearing voices. Frantic voices. Some confused, some panicked, others commanding.

Percy glanced around, observing where to land. He caught a glint near the corner of his vision. Turning his head, he saw a golden dragon sobbing, with a brown dragon poking at...

_Wait. Hold on a sec. What is that? What is that dragon poking at? A... am I seeing that right?_

Percy squinted his eyes, then gasped in horror.

"A head!"

"What? Percy, did you find something?"

"Yeah. Look over there! Good gods. I think we should go check it out!"

"Maybe we were sent here to do something after all," Annabeth mused out loud.

They veered towards the smaller entrance where the golden dragon was keening.

Touching down, they saw a green/blue dragon extract something from the ear of the dead dragon's head. They saw the blue-green and red scales shifted, flipping inside out, while the shape of the head changed, till the decapitated head looked similar to the head of the brown dragon nearby. They watched in disgusted fascination.

"I'm gonna be sick," Annabeth muttered, battling the urge to not heave.

"What happened!? What happened to Glory?" the brown dragon cried.

"Who is that?" the smoking copper dragon said.

"Not Queen Glory after all. This is magic, and enchantment of some kind," the green dragon said as he inquisitively held up the object he pulled from the ear.

As Percy and Annabeth walked closer, it became clear the object was a piece of paper.

The dragons turned towards them with various forms of confusion, and an awkward silence ensued.

"It's not Glory! Clay! Glory is still alive! Thank the moons!" Sunny exclaimed, still unaware of the newcomers.

"Do we know you?" The smoky dragon said, threateningly.

"Peril, stand down," the brown dragon said. "Hi. I'm Clay. Nice to meet you," he said, turning to Percy and Annabeth.

His openness was definitely confusing, especially juxtaposed with the sniffling golden dragon standing behind him.

They glanced back at Clay.

"Uh, hi? I'm - " Percy started before he was cut off.

"Names hold power. You need not know our names. Not yet, at least," Annabeth said. "We're not hostile if you wanted to know."

The smile of Clay's face faded a bit. "Oh," he muttered.

"So why are you here?" Peril said.

"We saw commotion over here and decided to come to investigate. What happened?" Percy asked, pointing at the head that lay on the stone.

"Wait, who are these dragons?" she asked, finally out of her bubble.

"They were just worried about Glory it seems. Speaking of which, we should probably tell them what happened," Clay answered.

"So basically ex-queen Scarlet comes and throws the 'head' of Queen Glory at us. She flees, then Queen Ruby, her daughter, chases after ex-queen Scarlet with her entourage, as well as Tsunami, a friend of mine. I'm not sure what happened to them. We will know later. Turtle comes by, pulls out a piece of paper, and now we find out it isn't Glory's head, but rather an enchanted head of a random Mudwing she probably killed for this," Clay summarized.

"That sounds convoluted. So why did all this happen?" Annabeth asked.

"Scarlet probably wanted revenge on us," Clay replied.

They soon figured out the history of this land, as Clay and Sunny told them everything. They seemed to forget the presence of Peril, who contemplated their utter lack of knowledge.

"Okay, look. It's good and all that y'all got a history lesson, but y'all are dragons. Why do you guys not know a single thing about our history? It's taught everywhere. That _war_ was everywhere," Peril said in a low voice to them.

"It does seem weird. The War of Sandwing Succession was everywhere. There is no way you could have missed all the bloodshed," Turtle added.

Peril slowly advanced on them. "Tell us. How do you not know? What are you? Stupid? Or foreign?"

Percy flared his wings. Good thing they didn't know his name or the situation would be that much worse.

Clay tried to defuse the situation but to no avail. "Woah, slow down Peril. They aren't hostile. Please stop. Don't. Don't be the dragon you once were."

Unfortunately, the words flew in one ear and soared out the other. Her eyes narrowed to slits.

Annabeth knew Peril had fire powers. She was smoking, unlike any other dragon around. She would only serve to hinder Percy, who had the perfect antidote. She backed off the cliff, and flew off, turning around to hover.

"It's up to you, Percy. I can only hinder you at this point!" she called out.

Peril charged. Percy performed a tactical retreat, flying down the mountain for a favorable battle location, landing near a stream. He may be clueless sometimes, but he wasn't stupid. This dragon was dangerous.

Peril landed in front of him, charring the ground and quickly starting flames that spread across the grass.

Clay and Sunny watched on in horror. He thought Peril was reformed, but unfortunately, the new dragon was suspicious to him even. Percy was dead for certain. Turtle looked on but made no moves.

Facing off at the base of the cliff, near a small stream, the fighters took stances.

"Come at me, Smokey," Percy taunted, flicking his talons towards himself. She obliged, charging forward. Just as she was about to close her talons on Percy's face, she was punched into the side of the mountain. Not hard enough for serious damage, but enough to send a message. She coughed and sputtered, then stood up, glaring daggers at Percy. He was perfectly fine, much to her dislike. The spectators saw something had punched Peril, but it was too fast for them to see what it was.

Peril charged once more, closing the distance more rapidly than last time, this time charging fire breath. She fired the almost laser-like stream of fire shot towards Percy. Suddenly, a wall of steam was blown into her face. It dispersed, to show Percy perfectly fine. The spectators gasped. Other dragons noticed the fight and joined those already present to watch the former Champion of the most bloodthirsty queen in recent history fight what they thought was a normal Seawing.

"Enough of these smoke and mirror tricks, fool! Fight talon to talon like a real dragon!" Peril roared.

So began a vicious cycle of taunting, circling each other, and the occasional collision. Percy made sure to conserve his energy. His opponent was getting tired fast.

"Aw, done so soon? Entertain me some more, Smokey!" Percy taunted, loudly to make sure the spectators heard it. Peril knew it too and decided to not lose any more dignity.

She growled, and shot into the sky, before turning around and diving towards Percy, talons out.

She was slammed by something into the mountain. A short burst of steam appeared but quickly cleared. Peril's still body lay in the steaming rubble, much to everyone's shock. After several moments, she let out a groan, panting from exertion. She turned herself over, and heaved herself up, wincing with pain. Everyone gasped, seeing Peril wounded. They turned towards Percy and were shocked to see a fist of water right behind him.

He held it there a bit for show, smirking, before letting it sink away, instead of manifesting a shard of ice. With a flick of his talons, he sent it careening towards Peril, planting right in front of her. She looked down with amazement, before letting out a gasp herself, seeing it melt instantly and reform into a sword, flying back to Percy's talons. He sauntered up to her and held the sword to her throat. She glanced down, then back at Percy. She narrowed her eyes and increased her output of heat. The blade stayed solid.

"What is this sorcery?" she hissed. "Why is it not melting?"

"I can keep it solid," he said, leaning in closer, smirking. "Now, do you concede?"

Everyone held their breath. Except for one dragon.

"Percy?"


	23. First Sight

As Percy fought Peril, and everyone stared on in interest and anticipation, particularly for a victor, Jason was pumping his wings to keep up with the queen, her other guards, and various other dragons. After an explosive release of emotion and tension, Jason flew mindlessly, focused only on keeping his tired body in the air. Occasionally, a thought would pierce through his daze, though it always ran in a circle. 

_ Who, why, tired, sad, who, why, tired, sad... _

As the mountain came into view through the clouds, he was snapped from his monotonous circle of thoughts. He still had to come up with a reasonable reason as to what happened. Thank goodness something else demanded the queen's attention.

_ Freak weather event? No. Everyone saw my connection to the lightning. Crud. What now? _

Jason started to panic again. He glanced around, only to see a peculiarity. Everyone was wheeling towards the base of the mountain, not the main entrance to Jade Mountain, nor the various entrances and platforms that lay scattered about.

He saw a crowd of various multicolored dragons but snapped his head in another direction. It got dizzying real fast. He needed sleep desperately. He shook his head hard, trying to clear his vision, but it only made things worse. 

As he descended upon the crowd, he could begin to make out what seemed to be a fight, between a smoking copper dragon and a turquoise dragon. The copper dragon was currently losing really hard. 

He looked back over at Queen Ruby, who was glaring at the copper dragon. He heard her mutter something, and he knew she wasn't happy, characterized by teeth-gnashing and brow furrowing. 

"Aw, done so soon? Entertain me some more, Smokey!"

"Shut up!"

He heard flapping, and a collision, followed by the sounds of rocks crumbling. Jason swiveled his head back to the fight, and just in time. 

The steam cleared, showing a fist of water, but it quickly dissipated, replaced instead with a spear made of ice, which was then thrown at the copper dragon, but stopped short, piercing the ground in front instead. Jason gawked. Dragons can manipulate water and ice? This was new. He hadn't seen this before.

The ice spear melted and reformed into a sword, which then flew back to the blue dragon's talons, who then sauntered up to the copper dragon. 

Jason narrowed his eyes. 

Held it at the chin of the copper dragon, and asked her to surrender.

_ Wait... _

_ A sword, just like the one I used during battle and training. A gladius? Dragons didn't use metal weapons beyond a spear. Everything was all-natural like fire and claws. _

_ Could it be? _

"Percy?"

Percy wasn't stupid. Someone in the crowd called his name, and it sure as Tartarus wasn't Annabeth. He quickly summoned a fist of water, and struck Peril in the face, knocking her into the mountain once more, and also knocking her out. Now, he won't have to worry about surprise attacks from her. He looked around, almost frantically, trying to remember which side the sound came from.

Jason blinked in surprise, then tried to hide behind a nearby dragon. 

_ The dragon even responded to Percy. It can't be!  _

Even Annabeth looked around. She looked at Sunny and Clay, but they shrugged their shoulders. Aside from them, who else knew Percy's name? She scanned the crowd but didn't see anyone suspicious. 

The silence was cut by Queen Ruby, who descended down to the impromptu arena to demand what was going on. 

A quick explanation by Clay and Annabeth cemented Peril's fate as an exile, at least for the foreseeable future. Queen Ruby was having a hard time trusting Peril, to begin with, it turns out. Her role as a champion murderer in the arena of Ruby's mother came as a shock to Annabeth, but Clay verified it. 

Queen Ruby had definitely taken interest in Percy, particularly in his water-manipulation abilities, which meant an asset to keep Peril in line. 

Jason watched everything from afar and was surprised the queen hadn't yet drawn the connection between him and what he resolved to be Percy. He might be wrong, but he was pretty certain, and everything lined up. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least he could talk to the blue dragon on his own terms to see if it really was Percy. The queen was really just as frazzled as him. Everyone could use a good night's rest to recuperate. 

Jason blinked, then yawned. 

_ A short nap wouldn't hurt. We don't leave for a bit, I think.  _


	24. Face to Face

In the short span between the blank calming darkness and even breathing as Jason fell asleep and him waking up in cold sweat, he was met once again with the mysterious entity in a world various colors of gray on the floor and eternally black in the distance, asking to be freed.

As he looked around the dark cave he had chosen to sleep in for the night, his pounding heart gradually began to slow. Bookshelves and unlit torches peppered the room, a carpet made of mosses and flowers adorned the center of the room. The peaceful snoring of his fellow guards also helped. Jason looked down at his talons and flexed them. He blinked as well, trying to clear the fogginess from his mind.

_Who was that? Why did he visit me again? I didn't encounter him while at training, so why is he back?_

Jason sighed. He headed down the school library after putting on some basic equipment denoting him as a Skywing soldier. Glancing down at the handy map of the school, it wasn't long before he found himself in the library. Judging from the first hints of sunlight peeking through the thin leaf windows, it was early in the morning. Under the desk, he found the sleeping form of a dark dragon. A Nightwing, the rarest dragon, he recalls from training.

_This must be the librarian._

"Excuse me, sir," Jason said in a loud whisper while shaking the librarian slightly. The dragon kept on snoring, and Jason gave an indignant look. He shook the librarian slightly harder, repeating what he said earlier, and this time it worked.

The black dragon uncurled and stretched while yawning.

"Hello, how can I help you," he said, facing the bookshelves behind him.

Jason couldn't help but snicker, but then he realized he probably shouldn't.

"Um, over here, sir," Jason said. The dragon turned towards him with a small smile.

"Ah, there you are. Do you need something?" he said.

Jason saw that the dragon had bandages over his face. Probably blind, poor dragon. Jason made no comment about it though.

"Um, yeah. Do you have anything regarding mysterious dragons visiting your dreams?" Jason replied.

The dark dragon thought for a few moments, before continuing. "Like how so? Dreamvisitor?"

"A dream what-now?" Jason asked.

"Dreamvisitor," he replied. "It allows dragons to visit each other's dreams."

"Never heard of it, sir," Jason said.

The librarian fell silent again for a few moments. Jason noticed him pensively flicking his tail back and forth.

"You can go to the magic/myths section. I'm not sure you will find what you are looking for, but if it does involve a Dreamvisitor, I know someone that can help you with that," he finally said.

Jason gave a small sigh and turned around. After some time looking at the scrolls in the section and not finding what he was looking for, he gave up and left the library, giving thanks to the librarian, but saying that he didn't find what he was looking for.

He should probably go find Percy, though that was certainly easier said than done. Most students and staff were in their classes, and the atmosphere was certainly rather uncomfortable. Jason still hadn't come up with an explanation for his freak weather event yesterday. He began to pace through the halls with slight frustration.

_Think. Think! What would Percy do? Would he even be here? The queen certainly took interest in Percy. If I could just find him without provoking a probe._


	25. Face to Face II

Percy wandered aimlessly through the halls of Jade Mountain Academy, thinking. The dragon he fought yesterday, Peril, as it turns out was a mass murderer, according to Queen Ruby of the 'Skywings'. He gritted his teeth. Good thing he prevented her from continuing to kill, one part of his mind thought. The other part chided him, saying that she was reformed. His short conversation with Clay after the fight told him that much.

"I just wish you didn't fight her, you know," Clay said ruefully.

"She had it coming, just attacking me like that," Percy responded. "Besides, I beat her easy, no harm no foul," he continued.

"She didn't attack you. She was suspicious of you though I can't really remember what it was exactly. Besides, she's not the dragon she once was. She was manipulated by Scarlet into doing those atrocious acts. Scarlet fooled Peril into thinking she had to do so in order to survive," Clay said.

"Really? What changed?"

"I happened. She tried to save a student during the attack a few days ago," Clay replied.

"So you changed her? Why didn't she listen to you before attacking?" 

"She is her own dragon now. I told her not to, but if she deems you suspicious enough to attack, then so be it," Clay said with a sigh. "How exactly are you suspicious again? I can't remember."

Percy glanced around uncomfortably, trying to formulate an answer that wouldn't be suspicious.

"Eh, whatever. I could go for a cow right now." Clay concluded. "And, oh, yeah. Feel free to stay here. We can even add you to the staff, though, of course, you would need to talk to Tsunami. She is technically the principal," Clay added before flying off to go look for something to eat.

Percy was surprised that Clay was so relaxed about everything. Now, he was just wandering the hallways of the school, thinking, but not about where he was going, just following a small tugging in his gut. He came to a remote cavern before he noticed. 

"Wow," he breathed out. It was stunningly beautiful and serene. Mostly because Annabeth was there already.

"About time. I figured you would find your way here. Eventually, at least," she said.

"I hadn't even noticed you were gone for so long, so..." Percy trailed off.

"Oh you seaweed brain," Annabeth chuckled. "The water is nice, why don't you join me?"Percy smirked, before leaping into the air with a few flaps, then diving into the water with a tremendous splash.

He surfaced again, pearly teeth revealed in a smile.

"You know, I'm still getting used to the swimming in this form, so don't flex on me," Annabeth said.

"What's that? You want me to flex on you?" Percy asked before pulling her under and twirling around, like a crocodile drowning its prey. Except Percy's not drowning Annabeth because that's not nice.

He formed an air bubble under the water and gave her a moment to catch her breath. "

Just like camp," Percy whispered in her ear.

"Shut up, you idiot," Annabeth giggled. 

"No," Percy replied before kissing her.

They spent some time playing in the water and bantering.

"Wait. Remember when I was fighting Peril and it got super silent, then someone said Percy?"

"Yeah. I think was a red dragon in the crowd. He looked panicked and tried to hide when you tried to find him."

"Who do you think it could be?"

"Someone who knows us, and it wasn't Clay or Sunny."

"You know, we should probably get out of the water now and go do something useful."

They swam towards the edge of the lake and climbed out. They then dried off, which was just Percy willing the water off of himself and Annabeth. 

Turning towards the exit, they were met with a red dragon with armor standing in the only entrance and exit to the underground lake, except for the ceiling hole, which bathed the crystal clear water with shafts of light.

Percy took a defensive position, lowering his body and flaring his wings, then maneuvering himself between the mystery dragon and Annabeth. 

"Who are you?" Percy hissed.

The red dragon sighed. "Sorry about the scare," he said ruefully, before trailing off, deep in thought.

"Just want to make sure, are you Percy?" he asked after a few moments.

Percy merely narrowed his eyes. "Do you need to know? What do you want?"

"So you're Percy, right?"

Percy didn't answer the question. 

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. You're Percy right? I called your name during your fight with Peril. I'm Jason," he blurted.

"Prove it," Percy hissed. 

Jason sighed, then turned and zapped a nearby rock then looked at Percy. Percy's eyes widened. 

A small smile formed on Jason's face before tears started spilling.

"I've been so lonely here, you know. Even after joining the Skywing army, and making friends. Now, to see you in front of me... You have no idea how good it feels to find you guys. I thought I was stuck here alone!" Jason whimpered.

Percy's posture loosened.

Annabeth peeked out from behind Percy. "Jason?" she asked. "That would explain a lot," she exclaimed through a teary smile.

Percy ran towards Jason and swept him up in a crushing hug. 

"Jason," he whispered over and over, through ragged breaths.

Annabeth could only smile, shaking her head to remove the stupid grin. They'd found Jason, a soldier no less!

"Look at you two!" she chuckled. "Crying like little babies."

"Hey, give us a break. We aren't emotionless machines like you!" Percy retorted.

"I'm not emotionless you fool," she said.

"Hey Jason, what's happened before you found us?" Percy asked. 

"Oh man, you have no idea," Jason exclaimed. 


	26. Bonus Chapter

Amber stood to attention with the rest of his class, glaring at the wall behind the commander.

_One wrong look at him, and he'll get all up in your face and make you sit in the freezing ocean water for half an hour. Don't want to go down there, reminds me. Don't do that._

Amber frowned and looked down, wincing slightly at the memory.

"You there! The one with the sissy earring!" the commander hollered, face turning ruby with fury under the already ruby scales. "What's with that sad face? Let me turn that frown upside down. Beach punishment, now!"

Amber gulped. "Yes sir," he managed out, and without another word, flew outside and down towards the beach, struggling to keep a straight face with all the howling from the other cadets.

"No laughing or you're joining him down there, y'all hear me!?"

Amber smiled a little, but it was quickly replaced when he saw a glint from the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw the glass that was formed in the sand from Jason's talk. He snapped his head away and shut his eyes, diving into the frigid waters of the ocean just as the sounds of thunder replayed in his head.

Surfacing for air, the frigid water finally registered. Clenching his teeth and ignoring the cold, he swam closer to the beach, and when the water shallowed to about shoulder height, he stopped. He would stand there for half an hour. Alone with his thoughts, alone by himself. Of course, unless his _wonderful _commander gives one of his comrades the _honor _of joining him down here. He smirked, but it faded quickly.

No matter how hard Amber tried, he kept wandering back the Jason. The beach, the waves, it was still the same. His mind kept associating the two.

_Why did he have to betray me?_

_He told you it would hurt, and you didn't listen, you klutz._

_I'm not a klutz. You are._

_Wait, you're me, and I'm you._

_Argh. This is unproductive. Look at the waves or something. Stop feeling so bad._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_This was where it happened. Why did he have to betray me?_

_It hurts too. We can only move forward._

_He was my only friend here. The bunk feels so empty without him._

_Why did he graduate early?_

_Because he lived a previous life, as a scavenger no less._

_Jason is a lie. No. He is my friend._

_He lied to me! No use._

_You cried in his face, and he tried to reassure you. You're just weak!_

_No, I'm not. I'm a soldier, who will do his duty and not turn back._

_What am I doing? Don't turn back._

_Wait, I think I saw a fish._

_..._

_..._

_..._

It was an endless cycle of regret and worry, as well as anger, then the ripping of his attention and thoughts back to the monotonous sound of the waves and the wind.

He was angry, that Jason hid everything from him. He was angry that he didn't take it well. He was angry that he fled, leaving Jason on the beach to pick up the pieces. He looked back before Jason disappeared from view and saw Jason's bowed head. What kind of friend was he?

He was sad that Jason isn't here. He was sad that Jason isn't what he thought Jason was.

He was regretful that he forced Jason to tell him everything, despite the warnings.

_I'm to blame._

_Jason wouldn't want this. Move on! Mo-_

"Hello, Sir Sadsalot. Or should I call you Mister Misery? No, wait. Cadet Crybaby works best," Crag told him, waving his talons in Amber's face.

"Get out of my face, buttcrack," Amber retorted.

"Haha, funny moment, totally laughed. Boy, you've been sat down here for an hour. Don't you want to join us for dinner? Assface commander is up there waiting for you."

Amber blinked, then joined Crag and flew back to the barracks. 


	27. Ruined Paths

_Huff._

_Huff._

_Rustle._

_Crumble._

_Huff._

Darkstalker's eyelids peeled apart to reveal eyes as dark as the cavern he rested in, the iris of all-encompassing black quickly expanding to adjust to the darkness. However, he shut his eyes once again, then reopened them, doing this several times to try to blink the dust out of his eyes.

A tear rolled down his sharp face, starting from the very scales that marked his incredible power. Darkstalker desperately wanted to rub his eyes, but he was locked in a prison of hard granite, and he was much too weak to move the stone, thousands of years of sleep taking its toll on his body.

He flexed his talons, feeling the torn copper wires and shattered moonstone, courtesy of an earthquake caused by a close flyby of a comet. His body locked in a prison of stone, there was nothing he could do with his withered body. He had to get out, but right now, all he could do was wait.

Not too long ago, he'd linked minds with a young Nightwing dragonet, taught her how to control her powers, and she, in turn, told him how long he'd been in a slumber, forced upon him by who he thought was the love of his life.

_It all went to shit._

Moonwatcher, it was. Darkstalker had told her that history got it all wrong, that he wasn't evil. Another tear rolled down his face, this one not because of the dust. He _wasn't _evil. He'd cast a spell to protect his soul from the use of animus magic. Despite so much work on both his part and Clearsight's, it'd all gone to...

_SHIT! FUCKING SHIT!_

Darkstalker took a deep breath, trying to not cough. Even though he could live as long as he desired, Darkstalker still hated suffering. Coughing would make everything worse.

Nonetheless, the past could not be changed. Hope had come to him like the weak sunlight that occasionally came down a small hole to the surface in the form of Moonwatcher. Now he waited, bided his time in a silence disturbed only by his weak breath. Moonwatcher had just left him to go to the Rainforest, he'd begged her to stay, but she had to go. Darkstalker indirectly left her with a mission by telling her who the bomber was, and above all, Icicle's history and current intentions.

Suddenly, Darkstalker's haggard form went rigid, at attention. He felt a significant disturbance, then smiled, the grin on his face revealing his pearly white teeth.

Darkstalker looked into the future and saw new paths spring forth, growing like the roots and branches of a tree.

The futures where he will be freed grow more numerous and nearer than ever.

He furrowed his brows, concentrating on the ones where he is freed. These new dragons, they are key. Starting with the nearest one, a Skywing named Jason.

When Darkstalker read Jason's mind sometime later, he saw that Jason was asleep, somewhat content. Darkstalker smirked once again.

_Enchant this copper wire to allow the holder to visit any dragon of the holder's choosing during his sleep._

Darkstalker grinned. He may have enchanted a scroll to do all that was written on it, but Darkstalker still held onto a fraction of his power. Darkstalker knew it wasn't enough to do anything physical, such as get him out, but his magic was still strong enough for something like this.

Darkstalker immediately dove into Jason's dreamless mind. There is only one timeline where Darkstalker's message to Jason would actually prevent his escape. The one where he killed Scarlet. Should Jason not kill Scarlet, the Jade Winglet finds and stops Scarlet themselves then retrieves his scroll from one of her underdogs, Chameleon. From there, everything fell into line, ending with Peril burning the scroll, allowing him to get out.

Darkstalker found out the next day, at sunrise, that Jason intended on joining the Skywing army. The moment Jason lifted off and started flying towards the barracks, it looked like a third of the timelines were sheared off, gone.

_GONE!_

This seriously hurt Darkstalker's chances of escape. The Jade Winglet represented a majority of his escape timelines, with the new dragons adding a few of their own. However, Jason joining the Skywing army immediately destroyed all timelines where the Jade Winglet helped him escape, as he would pulverize Scarlet in a spectacular fashion.

Darkstalker looked at his surroundings again, the jagged rock, the small shaft of light near his nose, and the dark coolness that wrapped around his body. Without someone to talk to, stewing in his thoughts, most of his escape timelines gone, dusted, Darkstalker started to breathe hard.

He squirmed, desperate to be free, but Jason ruined his chances. With a resigned sigh after a long time of anger and anxiety, Darkstalker shifted his attention to the other new arrivals. 


	28. Road Back

The trek back to the rainforest was a quiet one, the silence troubled only by breaths of dragons and the clicks of talons.

After the victorious capture of Icicle, the guards were in high spirits, especially the Nightwings. Amongst them, on a stretcher, the broken form of Icicle lay. Deathbringer and Glory were in the front leading the group, whereas the Jade Winglet, along with Nico and Piper brought up the rear.

Glory was pondering punishments. What would be just and adequate for Icicle? What can she be used for? Deathbringer occasionally looked backward, at the unconscious body of Icicle, his mind plagued by the legitimate assassination attempt on Glory. The Jade Winglet was also lost in their own thoughts, varying from sun time to Nico's words.

Just like everyone else, Nico and Piper were thinking.

_Scarlet is the one behind all of this drama. Reports from the Skywing Queen, Ruby, that Scarlet was executed. By a rookie soldier. Pulverized by lightning. That's not normal weather. Called down lightning?_

The darkness finally ceased, as the warm sunlight found its way into everyone's vision as the tunnel fell away, and everyone found themselves back at the rainforest, at the base of a large tree near a waterfall.

Glory and Deathbringer lifted off, flying back towards the royal pavilion, followed by the guards hoisting Icicle's body. The rest dispersed wordlessly and began routine patrols. This left Nico and Piper with the Jade Winglet.

"So, great job guys, we beat the baddy," Qibli noted to try to cut the awkward silence.

"Did you guys see the bones that Nico summoned to save me? That was so SO cool!" Kinkajou squeaked.

"Good job guys," Moonwatcher added quietly.

Winter sat on his haunches, clearly thinking.

_Don't even think about it, Winter. I can hear through what I have summoned._

"Hello, Phyrria to Winter? Hello?" Qibli said, waving his talons in front of Winter's face.

Winter shook his head to clear his thoughts, then batted Qibli's talons away.

"Yeah? What?" he demanded.

"What are you thinking about, cold dragon?" Qibli asked.

"Nothing," Winter hissed.

"How did Glory, Deathbringer and the others find us?" Moon asked.

"I left a trail for them to follow. I'm so sorry guys," Kinkajou replied.

"No, no. Don't be sorry. It most likely saved your underside from getting ripped out," Piper reassured with a small smile.

"Hey, give me a little credit," Nico whined in response.

While the Jade Winglet was occupied talking about recent events, and about whether or not to return to Jade Mountain, or stay in the Rainforest for a little longer, Nico and Piper were talking about the fate of Scarlet.

"I'm guessing you thought about this on our way back, you aren't stupid. Queen Glory said that Scarlet was pulverized by a rookie soldier who, according to witnesses, called down lightning," Piper said to him.

"You're right, I'm not stupid. And yes, that has been on my mind. Rookie means new, so just like us. You and I both know that there is only one person who can call down lightning," Nico replied.

"Jason!" they both yelled simultaneously, excited at the prospect of finding a fellow demigod.

"Who or what is this Jay's son you're talking about?" Winter asked them.

"Jason is a friend of ours," Nico said without thinking.

"Aren't you guys new here? What are you guys talking about?" Qibli asked.

"I think they ate the wrong thing," Kinkajou added.

"We should probably leave, Nico," Piper said. "We've overstayed our welcome."

"You should probably tell us what you are," Moon said. "Before you leave to find your friend."

Nico and Piper both whirled around and looked at Moon, their faces shocked.

"What are you talking about? How did you know?" they both asked.

"She's a mindreader," Qibli said.

"Well, we knew that already, but didn't you say you can't read my mind, saying it's all 'cold and dark in there'?" Nico asked.

"I can read Piper's mind," Moon admitted, looking down at the ground, then fidgeting her talons. 

Piper was about to open her mouth and command them to forget this conversation ever happened and leave, but Moon interrupted.

"Please don't use your charmspeak on us. We just want to know. That is all," Moon said.

Winter was now glaring at them. Nico had always been upfront with his powers, but Piper never displayed any power. Now, Moon was telling everyone that Piper did have powers. Winter was fully attentive and eager to listen now, narrowing his eyes at Piper.

"Well? Say something!"

"If Moon is a mindreader, I'll tell her everything in my mind, then she can explain everything to you guys. However, right now, Nico and I are eager to go and find Jason," Piper replied.

The Jade Winglet discussed amongst themselves for a few moments, then Moon nodded the affirmative.

Piper ran through the basic gist of how they ended up in Phyrria, but about their background as demigods in her mind, she made sure to be as detailed as possible.

"Thanks for your cooperation and help with finding Icicle," Moon said, before beginning to wrestle with all the new information in her head.

"Just one question before we leave, do you guys happen to know where this Skywing Queen and her entourage are?" Nico asked. Piper nodded, slapping herself mentally for forgetting to ask them.

"They're at Jade Mountain, the tallest mountain right now, retrieving the body of Carnelian if I remember correctly," Moon said after a few moments of pensive thought. "I suggest you hurry."

"Good luck explaining it all, Moon, but you're a smart dragon. Nico and I must now take our leave. Thank you for helping us find our friends," Piper said to Moon.

Turning around, Nico and Piper lifted off, worming their way through the canopy, and after bursting out into the sunlight, began to speed towards Jade Mountain, albeit unsteadily at first.

Down at the forest floor, Qibli, Winter, and Kinkajou looked at Moon expectantly, like baby birds to their mother, expecting her to feed them, only with information, not worms.

"How do I begin? Piper and Nico's background is really, really complicated. I would go so far as to say it would challenge your concepts of reality," Moon said.

"I'm thirsty for knowledge," Qibli said. "It can't be that bad, right?"

"Alright. For starters, y'all know the scavenger that Winter had for a pet, right?" Moon asked.

"Yeah, Bandit. What about it?" Winter said.

"Nico and Piper come from a world dominated by them. Before you go and feel sad for them, for they were scavengers too, but they were more at the same time. They were descendants of powerful entities, which explains their powers. Nico himself descends from Death, Piper from Love," Moon said. "The Jason that they talked about descends from the Sky."

Everyone's jaw dropped.

"Explain more, damn it. I want to know every little bit about them," Winter demanded.

Moon explained away, and soon, the day faded to night. Dumbfounded, they decide to push the new information to the back of their minds and go check on Icicle in the infirmary.

Glory confirmed that Scarlet was dead, which was good news for everyone. Well, almost.

"How am I going to find Hailstorm now?"


	29. Overheard

Nico and Piper did not stop to rest on their first major flight, no matter how parched their throats or tired their wings. They flew as fast as they could, as long as they could, the ground below whizzing by, as the Jade Mountain loomed close and closer. 

Spotting an entrance to the mountain, Nico elbowed Piper lightly, pointing a talon.

"Moon said that the Skywing Queen and her royal entourage, along with Jason are here, at the tallest mountain. They're probably inside," he panted, Piper looked at him as if to say 'I already know.'

Piper gave a slight nod, and they pivoted down, flopping onto the platform ungracefully, and just lay there, catching their breath, letting the aches in their bones and muscles work their way out.

After recovering, they wandered inside the school and were met with numerous dragons milling around, the large cavern decorated with banners and flowers.

_ Jade Mountain Academy.  _

Piper smiled at the sight, observing every small detail, from the pouches the students carried, to the symmetrical design of the cavern and the hallways leading away from it. Nico looked around as well but seemed uninterested in the school.

_ 'There!'  _ they both thought. 

Nico walked up to the black dragon, who quickly turned to face him with a giant smile.

"Hi there! I'm Fatespeaker, and I can see you don't have the pouch students have. So that must mean you're a visitor. I totally foresaw your arrival. Oh! Look at those shiny scales, they're so pretty! What can I do you for, lovely dragons?" she asked.

Nico rolled his eyes. 

_ 'She's just like Kinkajou,'  _ he thought with a mental eye roll. 

"I- we're looking for the Skywing queen," he responded.

Fatespeaker gave him a quizzical look. "We can't have random dragons visiting one of the most important dragons in all of Phyrria. I don't even know where she is. All I know is that she is going to the Mud Kingdom to try to identify the decapitated head Scarlet threw," she said.

"Do you know anyone who knows where the Skywing queen is?" Nico asked.

"Probably Tsunami, the principal of the school," Fatespeaker answered.

"What do you do then?" Nico asked.

"Oh, silly old me? I'm just the receptionist," Fatespeaker answered with a giggle.

"Alright. Thanks, I guess," Nico said, before walking away. 

_ Skywing Queen will go to the Mud Kingdom. Tsunami probably knows where the queen is.  _

Nico walked back to where he thought Piper was, only to find that she was gone already. 

"Piper?"

_ No response. _

"Piper!" he yelled.

_ Still no response. Argh. _

Nico started running up and down the halls, eyes looking around wildly, desperately trying to find where Piper had gone to. He bumped scrolls out of talons, knocked students over, but he didn't care. Completely disregarding the other dragons, he came across one of the various exits from the school. Seeing a large red dragon with a crown was enough to stop his rampage. He stopped running, his momentum carrying for a bit. He peeked around the corner once more, and saw, much to his relief, the shimmering scales of Piper blended with the cavern behind her. He looked back at the red dragon with the crown on her head.

The red dragon was surrounded by 5 guards, facing down a black dragon, much like himself, a blue dragon, and a Skywing guard.

"We're going to the Mudwing Kingdom to try to identify this head with Queen Moorhen. Now, before we do that, I order you to provide an explanation for your lightning powers," she said to the Skywing guard clearly isolated from the others, disregarding the other two dragons. 

_ Just in the nick of time. Let's see if Piper and I will need to interfere. _

"Your majesty, as you know, I promised you I just needed a day to recollect myself, and now that day is upon me. I hide nothing from you now," he said with a bowed head. "These two dragons are my friends. We are not from this world. We are not dragons. It's the truth, an unfortunate one, but that is why we exhibit these powers. My lightning powers, and his water manipulation."

_ 'Wow. Bending so easily, Jason?'  _ Nico judged.

Ruby raised an eye ridge, then looked right, to the sky with a sigh. Her guards looked and talked amongst themselves in hushed conversations. Their minds were no doubt running like lighting trying to make sense of it all. 

"One of my most talented soldiers is not even a dragon, and here I was, thinking I could use this not-Seawing as the perfect antidote to Peril, who I banished against the word of one of the Dragonets of Destiny. What have I become?" Ruby said with a dry chuckle, head no longer held high but lowered in shame. "What do I do with this information? I threatened you with banishment if you do not tell me the source, and now that I know, what of it?"

"I can continue serving in your army, your Majesty, if you wish," Jason said, hopeful to not threaten the status quo.

"I do wish for that, but it is what my subjects say that I do," she replied. "What do you all think?" she asked, turning to her guards.

"Cast him out. He is a traitor, having withheld this information. He is a threat to the subjects, and clearly unstable," one of the guards declared. Much to Jason's dismay, the other guards grunted in agreement.

"It seems my subjects do not want you around," Ruby remarked grimly. On one talon, she wanted Jason's skills and prowess in her army, but none of that would be any good if the other soldiers didn't want to work with him.

"Well, that just isn't fair, your majesty. Your guards do not represent the general population. You-" Annabeth stated before getting cut off.

"Did I ask for what you thought, Nightwing?" Ruby hissed, smoke rising out of her nostrils. 

_ 'First Scarlet's death, which I'm actually fine with, but the Mudwing head, animus nonsense, Jason's secret, and my guards being disagreeable,'  _ Ruby grumbled mentally.

"Jason, I hereby banish you from the Skywing Kingdom. You are now a fugitive, an outlaw just like Peril, for high treason. This is not my will, but the will of my subjects," Ruby declared resolutely but conflicted internally. She shoved her doubts aside, assuring herself that she was doing what was best for her kingdom. 

_ "Go on. Your friends deserve dignity," a voice in Nico's head hissed. _

"Alright, that's enough bullshit," Nico announced, stepping into the cavern. 


	30. Bonus Chapter II

Deep in a cave in Jade Mountain Academy, the most dangerous dragon in all of Phyrria was hiding. 

_Hiding!_

Smoke rose out of her nostrils, the stones beneath her talons scorched from her incessant pacing, her lashing tail occasionally leaving black streaks across a wall.

"Just until Ruby's gone. Just. Just Just," Peril growled. "Just this, just that. Just what? He said that hours ago. Hours! Just how long is this stupid royal visit of her's going to take? It's just a stupid body, for Moons sake!"

Her mind continued to fume, about Ruby's stupid rules, about her sweet and gentle Clay, about Ruby's rule, about her merciful and forgiving Clay. Back and forth, back and forth. Clay was the only thing preventing her from going rogue as of now. After the end of the war, Peril attempted to redeem herself, by searching for Queen Scarlet, and hopefully, kill her. Instead, she was unwelcome everywhere she went. Screams and shrieks filled her ears. Rocks, spears, and crocodiles all landed on her scales, and were charred thoroughly. Nothing would hurt her, but in place of physical pain, it was emotional pain. 

Her trail of thoughts and pity was interrupted by talon steps, and the scraping sounds of a tail on stone. 

_Clay? Oh, thank the Moons! I was about to go crazy!_

Peril leaped into the corridor, and came within a scale of colliding with some dragon who definitely wasn't Clay. 

The dark green SeaWing dragonet didn't scream, faint, punch her face, or throw things at her like other dragons. Instead, he simply froze and shut his eyes, as if not seeing the danger really made it disappear.

Instead, it was Peril that yelped and vaulted backwards, desperate to not be responsible for another injury, or worse, death. 

"What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"Um... Walking? In the halls? Back to my cave?" he replied in a low, gravelly voice, while opening a single eye to peer at Peril. 

"Well, that's very, very stupid of you!" she snapped.

The scrunched up eye ridges of the SeaWing dragonet loosened as he opened both his eyes, and regarded her in a rather lazy manner. 

"Oh, sorry," was all he said.

_What a peculiar dragon. All the other SeaWings I know have at least some sort of flame that burns inside. From Tsunami's volcanic rage to Anemone's sparks of annoyance and arrogance. This one's a puddle. _

"You're Peril, aren't you?" he said, tearing her from her thoughts. 

"Queen Scarlet's..." he trailed off.

_Champion? Weapon? Slave?_

"Yes, I'm Queen Scarlet's notorious death monster," she hissed. 

The SeaWing seemed taken aback, ducking his head, making a weird clicking noise.

"Ah, uh. Um, okay. I'll just... go then," he mumbled. 

"Fine," Peril huffed, turning around, making sure her tail didn't accidentally brush the SeaWing dragonet. 

_If Clay won't come to me, then I'll come to him. If Ruby has a problem, well she can stick it. _

Carnelian's body was kept in a cave that had access to the wide open sky. Osprey had told Peril that it was ritual, so that the spirit would fly free, and return as a SkyWing. She had visited the body twice, both times at night to avoid everyone else. She'd seen the cave at night, when the silvery rays of moonlight poured in through the skylights, illuminating the slender, twisting pillars of gray and making the tall arching roof felt even larger. Now, it was broad daylight, the white and gold backed by the azure sky made the cavern feel magical almost, the wind flowing in and out of the silk wrapped around Carnelian's body, breathing some semblance of life into the corpse. The cavern truly did look like a place where a new SkyWing might rise out of the ashen corpse of the old one. 

But only if all the angry dragons in the room didn't somehow affect that process. Thankfully, that means Peril can watch what's going on without being noticed, over all the yelling and commotion. 

"I smell lies all over this story," a guard snarled. "First you tell us you're harboring a violent, bloodthirsty criminal, and then you show us a dragonet who has died in exactly the same way that creature kills! Quit shitting us!"

"Are you sure that abomination didn't burn Carnelian to death!?? Because those are burn marks, and only one single dragon can do that, and it's her!" Ruby roared.

Then, much to Peril's shock, Ruby pointed a talon straight at her. 

_What?! How?_

"No. Clay is right. Everyone saw. Carnelian and another dragon died in a dragonflame cactus bombing. Another dragon was injured, gravely. A whole classroom was trashed. If it weren't for action by a few of our students, more would have died."

Peril silently thanked Sunny for telling the truth to Ruby. 

"As much as I hate Peril, the fire wasn't caused by her. You have my very royal, trustworthy word," the blue dragon added.

_Thanks, Tsunami. Real nice of you. _

"You want us to buy that a MudWing set of a dragonflame bomb and accidentally killed a soldier loyal to Queen Ruby instead of her supposed target?" the guard from earlier hissed.

Peril's eyes darted back and forth. She saw one of the soldiers having what she could only describe as breakdown. As he slowly regained his composure, a frantic guard approached the cavern.

"Your majesty! Someone is approaching from the north!" he called.

"Queen Moorhen?"

"No. I see orange scales..." the guard said before drifting off into silence.

A collective gasp of shock spread around the crowd. A few guards murmured. Peril set her eyes on Clay, to keep her frayed nerves under control. 

"No. No, how? I thought she was dead!" someone shrieked.

The orange dot grew closer, larger. Details came into view. A scarred face, a vengeful look.

Queen Ruby was swept backwards as guards placed themselves between the two rulers. 

_Impossible!_

"Traitors!" the orange dragon roared with fury. "All of you! Disloyal dogs! I will destroy all who oppose me! I will have my vengeance and I will have my throne back! This dragon is only the start. You'll all be next!"

She threw the object in her hands, then whirled around and bolted.

The group fell into pandemonium. The golden dragon keened with loss.

"Queen Glory? What? How?" a dragon asked through the pandemonium.

All the guards, along with Queen Ruby lifted and started chasing Scarlet. Tsunami followed shortly, her roar of rage deafening. 

Now, it was just Clay, Sunny, and Peril alone on the cliff edge with a dragon head and the corpse of Carnelian. Well, not for long. 

"I heard commotion up here, so I figured it would be better if I came to see," someone said. 

Peril turned around, and much to her surprise, the SeaWing from earlier was back. 

"You? Again?" she said.

"How could she have killed Glory? GLORY!??! She's amazing and indestructible, and has magical death spit plus Deathbringer, supreme assassin, and a whole army of RainWings who would die for her! Please!! Please tell me that's not her!" Sunny wailed. 

"It could be a trick," Clay mused, still shocked. 

"I sense something strange about the head. Mind if I have a look?" the SeaWing asked Clay.

"It doesn't make sense for Scarlet to go for Glory first. Knowing her, she'd get her throne back first, then attack the rainforest with the full fury of the SkyWing army," Peril added.

"Sure. Have at it Turtle. Just be careful," Clay said as he gingerly handed the head of 'Glory' to Turtle, who started fidgeting with it, turning it over, peering in different places. 

Just as Turtle pulled out a piece of parchment from the head's ear, some new dragons landed. 

"I'm going to be sick," the black dragon mumbled under her breath.

"What happened!? What happened to Glory?" Clay cried.

"It's not Glory's head?" Sunny asked. 

"Who is that?" Peril asked.

"Not Queen Glory after all. This is magic, and enchantment of some kind," the green dragon said as he inquisitively held up the object he pulled from the ear.

"It's not Glory! Clay! Glory is still alive! Thank the moons!" Sunny exclaimed, still unaware of the newcomers.

The new dragons walked even closer.

Peril placed herself between the newcomers and Clay.

"Do we know you?" she hissed, smoke rising out of her nostrils. 

"Peril, stand down," the brown dragon said. "Hi. I'm Clay. Nice to meet you," he said, turning to the newcomers.

The blue dragon started to introduce himself, but was cut off by the black dragon. 

"Names hold power. You need not know our names. Not yet, at least. We're not hostile if you wanted to know," she said.

"So why are you here?" Peril asked.

"We saw commotion over here and decided to come to investigate. What happened?" the blue dragon asked, pointing at the head that lay on the stone.

"Wait, who are these dragons?" Sunny asked, finally out of her bubble.

They were just worried about Glory it seems. Speaking of which, we should probably tell them what happened," Clay answered.

"So basically ex-queen Scarlet comes and throws the 'head' of Queen Glory at us. She flees, then Queen Ruby, her daughter, chases after ex-queen Scarlet with her entourage, as well as Tsunami, a friend of mine. I'm not sure what happened to them. We will know later. Turtle comes by, pulls out a piece of paper, and now we find out it isn't Glory's head, but rather an enchanted head of a random MudWing she probably killed for this," Clay summarized.

As Sunny and Clay explained the history of Phyrria, Peril couldn't help but think some things didn't add up. 

"Okay, look. It's good and all that y'all got a history lesson, but y'all are dragons. Why do you guys not know a single thing about our history? It's taught everywhere. That _war_ was everywhere," Peril said in a low voice to Turtle.

"It does seem weird. The War of SandWing Succession was everywhere. There is no way you could have missed all the bloodshed," Turtle added.

Peril made up her mind. Turning to the newcomers, she started pressing them for answers as she slowly advanced towards them.

"Tell us. How do you not know? What are you? Stupid? Or foreign?"

The black dragon retreated behind the blue dragon, as he flared his wings.

"Woah, slow down Peril. They aren't hostile. Please stop. Don't. Don't be the dragon you once were," Clay pleaded, but the words flew in one ear and soared out the other.

Her eyes narrowed to slits. 

Peril charged.


	31. The Legend of the Half Scavenger, Half Horse

Curved talons plodded along the cold stone floor of Jade Mountain, the clicks echoing up and down the desolate hallways. The torches lining the hallways flickered, casting a red glow across everything it touched, the crackling occasionally flaring, before cooling again. Wisps of smoke curled and dissipated. 

The dragon looked the other way. 

_Ah hah. _

It'd been difficult navigating the hallways without a map, since he hadn't memorized the layout of the school quite yet, despite his sister being one of the headmasters. Sighing, he entered the library. 

There were no fires in the library for lighting. It wasn't allowed, for fear of burning the scrolls; that shouldn't happen to the precious knowledge inside. Instead of fires, the library was lit by the night sky, as impossible as that sounds. Even on the darkest nights, when all the moons were empty, the stars themselves shone brightly enough, casting a soft glow upon the scroll, provided you hold it close enough to your snout. 

"What can I do you for, Turtle?" Starflight asked, facing the wall. 

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked, gesturing to himself with a talon. 

"I've memorized the distinctive gait patterns of each tribe. It's quite simple actually. Icewings have more clicking noises, as their spines rattle around, for example. I can explain it all to you if you want," Starflight answered.

"Well, I must walk like all the other Seawings," Turtle continued. 

"I suppose it's librarian's intuition, if that even exists," Starflight mused. "Though it would make sense to say you're just more pensive and willing to read than the others of your tribe."

Turtle hummed in agreeance.

"Well, we digress. I'm going to go on an adventure of sorts with Peril, you know her, right? We're going to go find the rest of the Jade Winglet, and she wants to blow off some steam after the whole debacle with not being the one to kill Scarlet, getting murked, as my brothers would say, by that mysterious SeaWing. I wanted to read up on some legends, hopefully about either the Seawings or Skywings, so we'd have something to talk about while traveling," Turtle said, a small, sheepish smile adorning his face.

"Well, I would advise against leaving the safety of this school while the other teachers and I are trying to figure out what's going on, but I can't really stop you," Starflight replied. He raised his talons, and pointed at a corner of the library, the racks of scrolls sitting just out of moonlight's reach. 

"The scrolls of myths, legends, and folk tales from all the tribes can be found there," Starflight offered. 

"Many thanks, Starflight," Turtle replied.

Strolling over, he started gleaming through the scrolls, looking for something interesting to read. He gingerly shuffled his talons along with the scrolls, reveling in the crispness of the parchment. 

_Peril probably doesn't know much in the way of Skywing legends, considering her background. I think it'd be a nice surprise. _

He glanced at the Skywing section. Remarkable, the stack was much smaller than the other tribes, for some reason.

_This'll be quick. Thank goodness._

He picked all the scrolls up and set them on the floor of the cave. He did possess remarkable night vision but chose instead to illuminate the bioluminescent scales on his face. Opening the scrolls one by one, he glanced at the title, and the summary provided at the head of each scroll. 

_Hmm, The First and Last of the Skywing Animi, The Wrath of the Skies, Tale of the 4th Moon, The Legend of the Half Scavenger, Half Horse, The Dragon Above the Skies... wait. Half Scavenger, Half Horse?_

Turtle raised an eye ridge. He quickly returned all the other scrolls to the shelves, making sure everything was tidy, before giving complete attention to the scroll now in front of him. Flattening the scroll out before him, he began to read.

_Soon after the Scorching, which heralded a new age dominated by dragons, is when this tale begins. The tribes, newly established, were still jostling for territory. It was only the Icewings and Sandwings that had a defined territory, too unbearable for the other tribes, who still fought amongst themselves for land. It was decades before the wars ended, and an uneasy peace was established. The dragons that would become known as the Skywings had taken territories up in the high mountains, where the free-spirited, fiery dragons could live without conflict. But not all was well, as nothing ever was. The queen of the Skywings, Inferno, was slowly descending into tyranny, and in her later years, began mass executions of those who dared to disobey her, and would alternate between periods of rage and periods of intense fear and anxiety. It had become clear to her subjects that a new queen was needed. But who? None of her daughters were fit to be queen, just as unstable as their mother, and eager to continue living the life they'd been living up till then. The subjects who spoke out were killed, and those remaining struggled to carve a living for themselves, as everything went towards the monarchs. Even the other tribes began to pity the miserable state of the Skywings. Queen Inferno, enraged by what the other tribes thought of her, mustered her forces and embarked on a war of aggression against all the other tribes. Though initially successful, the war effort soon fell apart, as many dragons fled her army. Starving and desperate, the entire tribe descended into anarchy and rebellion. Other tribes, wisely stayed out of the civil conflict, licking their wounds from the previous aggression initiated by Queen Inferno. The faction that remained loyal to Queen Inferno was the largest among the groups that attempted to reunite the Skywings. The Skywings existed in this shattered, pitiful state for many years. _

_Of course, things changed when a mysterious being appeared in the SkyWing lands, seemingly out of nowhere. No dragon could believe what their eyes showed them, or what their ears told them. A being whose lower half was a horse and upper half was a scavenger. Many Skywings haven't seen scavengers proper in years, and none were near as large as this being, who matched the dragons in stature, and would soon find out, also matched dragons in power, capable of running as fast as a Skywing can fly for as long. He could also speak in their language, which was quite shocking, as most dragons only hear yibbles and yabbles from Scavengers. It would then be considered lucky that after asking what troubled the dragons, he decided to aid them in overthrowing their tyrannical queen, who was still jousting for power with the other factions. Some factions were headed by generals, others by dragons who had lost much to the queen. As time would tell, fate had taken the side of the Skywings, as he offered his support to the faction lead by the inexperienced niece of Inferno. Teaching her combat, tactics, as well as art, and oratory skills, Princess Peregrine went from a shy, quiet, but likable dragonet of 5 years to a proud warrior, capable leader, and captivating speaker and artist by 10 years of age. The skills this scavenger horse hybrid taught her shifted the tide of war, and soon it was just her against her aunt. _

_After all the battlefield fighting had ended, it was just Peregrine and Inferno, standing against each other on the balcony of the Skywing palace, which had now been reduced to ruins. They fought to the death, one on one, as per the tradition of all dragon tribes. The old queen was dead and standing victorious over her corpse was Queen Peregrine, who planted a talon on her aunt's mangled face, and roared victory into the deep blue sky, as the crowds of Skywings below her cheered, relishing the end of the civil war. The new queen turned her head, towards the scavenger/horse hybrid, and dipped her head in reverence, and all the Skywings followed suite. They owed the next millennium of peace and prosperity to this hybrid. He smiled, turned around, trotted off, and was never seen again. Queen Peregrine quickly began efforts to rebuild Skywing civilization, and reestablishing relations with other tribes. She proved successful in all her efforts, thanks to her mentor, the mysterious hybrid. Only she knew his name, and it was only on her deathbed that she revealed it to her kingdom. The savior of the Skywing Kingdom was Chiron. _

Turtle blinked. Looking around, he could see that Starflight had already turned in for the night. The only sounds disturbing the peace of the night were the crickets and the slight rustling of grass. Turning off the glowing scales on his face, he put the scroll back, and stood up, cracking and stretching his body. Eyelids heavy, he didn't even bother to return to his cave, just crawling over to a ledge, and drifting away. 

_What an incredible tale._


	32. Banished

Jason watched hopelessly as Ruby droned on and on. It was clear that she wanted him to stay in the royal army and serve her dutifully, as he had originally wanted. He could see the conflict in her eyes clear as a crystal, and yet, she folded so easily to what the other guards thought. He wanted to speak up for himself, he really wanted to. All his frustration and anger bubbled underneath the surface, but his doubts about how the other guards would react presented a massive wall. He looked hopefully at Percy and Annabeth, but that hope melted like Scarlet's scales as Ruby started fuming at Percy and Annabeth. Jason looked down at his talons as Ruby gave her final verdict, unchallenged as the sole ruler of the Skywing Kingdom. 

"Jason, I hereby banish you from the Skywing Kingdom. You are now a fugitive, an outlaw just like Peril, for high treason. This is not my will, but the will of my subjects," she proclaimed. 

_ 'The other guards had the nerve to look satisfied!?' _Jason lividly thought, but that anger bent under the weight of his own insecurity. 

_ Why are they accusing me of such heinous deeds? _

_ Did I do something wrong? _

_ I'm supposed to be a leader! _

_ Why aren't you standing up for yourself? _

_ Haven't you had enough? _

_ What about Amber? What will he think? _

_ Percy and Annabeth are right here! _

Jason glanced around the cave scared. The other guards advanced on him, eager to force him out. That definitely crossed a line.

"That's enough bullshit."

"I'll leave on my own volition! If any of you have the nerve to throw me out I will microwave your sorry asses!" he roared, before turning tail, and with a powerful downward stroke of his wings, lifted off and soaring into the sky disappearing into the distance. He heard frantic voices calling out his name, but it was drowned out by other dragons arguing back, but it soon all faded to nothingness, the wind no longer carrying the sound to his sensitive ears. 

Face burning with fury and shame, he couldn't bear to fly so high, so exposed to other dragons, for them to see a fugitive, a dragon brought low. He turned away from the forest towards the plains, where he could fly low, among the softly billowing grass. He took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the rolling hills, but his vision was soon blurred by tears. 

He didn't even bother to suppress his tears, he let it all out. His mistreatment and wrongful punishment, his sorry and worry for Amber, his insecurities about himself, and what role he served, both as praetor and common soldier. He was meant to be powerful and commanding, it was his heritage and destiny as the son of Zeus, yet he was perfectly fine with following orders. It felt normal, natural. He was supposed to stand up for himself, yet here he was receiving earfuls of nonsense and not even defending himself. 

_ Why? _

The tears kept coming, yet Jason's mouth felt dry. Suddenly all the liquid spilling from his eyes were blasted into nothingness by a wall of heat so intense Jason was worried he'd die on the spot. Looking down, he saw the rolling plains were replaced with billowing dunes of sand, white, brown, and golden all the same.

_ 'Maybe I'm better off dead. I'd become a mummy too, as a plus, I guess.' _

Jason shook his head, pushing down those nauseating thoughts. 

_ I won't die here. I won't die here. I'm better than that,' _he kept repeating, pushing through the heat and dryness.

Hours later, as the sun began to dip below the horizon and as the sky started darkening, Jason decided to ascend to get a better view of the land with the remaining light and set up for the night, and possibly the foreseeable future. Pushing and straining his body, he looked down and expected more desert. Yet, in the distance, in the direction that he'd been soaring in for hours, he could see a three-way junction, between the desert, the sea, and the tundra.

_ 'It won't be an easy life, but I'll survive with what's available there.' _

Jason started descending, letting gravity hold his body as he stopped flapping, gliding towards his destination. 

Landing roughly as his limbs struggled to bear his weight, he dropped himself to the ground with an intense sigh, panting heavily. 

Seeing a few trees dotted around his resting place, and smelling the deer and other game that'd been here recently, Jason decided that he could leave building a shelter and hunting for future him. He'd content himself with sleeping, and sleep he did. A dreamless sleep was rare for demigods, but Jason had been blessed by the gods with a night of dreamless sleep, one where he could escape all his problems. 

Percy and Annabeth struggled for words as they watched Jason turn tail and flee like a coward. 

_ 'They'd never seen him do something like that, so what changed?' _they asked themselves.

Percy couldn't say anything as he watched Jason fly away. He screamed after him, but Jason paid him no heed. Slinking back to the cave entrance, he glared at the guards, before hanging his head in shame and continuing on, leaving the premises entirely. He was too tired to deal with this at the moment, dragging his talons and his tail back to the lake.

Annabeth was fuming with the Skywing authority for acting so irrationally and callously, and she really wanted to go to Ruby and strangle her, but with the sheer force of will, she held herself back, content to let Nico chew them out.

Chew them out he did. He screamed and yelled profanities at them so loudly he lost his voice just seconds in. 

A few of the guards snickered, but they were silenced by his glare. Ruby wanted to be angry at Nico's lack of decorum, but she was too tired to bother with it.

"Tomorrow, we leave for the Mudwing Kingdom to figure out whose head Scarlet had to decapitate, and then we'll return to finalize Carnelian's funeral, sort out the legal repercussions with the school, we'll also get Jason's name out of the books," Ruby tiredly announced before slinking away, head down too. 

Nico roared in frustration, decorated a nearby stone wall with a web of cracks. 

Piper broke down crying, watching her love disappear into the horizon. 

"I will have revenge and I will be the one to serve the dish, ice-cold," she muttered through gritted teeth. 

Letting the tears dry, she stood up, head held high with resolve. 

_'Mmmmm, that anger and vengeance is sweeter than a strawberry on a midsummer's night.'_


	33. Journey to Possibility I

_Beware the darkness of dragons,_

_Beware the stalker of dreams,_

_Beware the talons of power and fire, _

_Beware the one who is now what she seems._

_Something is coming to shake the earth._

_Something is coming to scorch the ground._

_Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice. _

_Unless the lost city of night can be found._

"What are you planning to do with my sister?" Winter asked Glory after the interesting news about Nico and Piper that Moon told him and the others. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his head. He can always resolve it later.

"I can return her to the Ice Kingdom, and I assure you that Queen Glacier will see to Icicle's punishment as deemed just by our courts," he offered, looking at Glory, who was pacing around Icicle's stretcher in the Rainwing's healing hut. 

Glory studied Icicle's sleeping form closely, examining every last detail. 

Winter remembered when Icicle was in her prime, tall and proud, every last inch of her was polished and reflective, positively shining if anything. She was their parent's last pride and joy, after Hailstorm's 'death.' Winter, well he was the weak link of his lineage. Not weak, necessarily, but not strong either, especially mentally. Curiosity, especially in something as trivial as scavengers were looked down upon, to say the least. Here he was, not even opposing being in the presence of dragons from other tribes. He should be furious with himself, but he wasn't. He wasn't opposed to being friends with Qibli, Kinkajou, or even Moon, sworn enemies of his tribe. Everything preached to him simply wasn't true! Yet, he wanted to make his parents proud. Their approval was all he'd searched for all his life, and that meant doing, saying, and acting what they wanted him to do, say, or act. He wasn't ready to throw all that he'd known away, especially returning his sister to be punished. He could already imagine his parents' fury. 

Tearing his thoughts away from that, he returned his gaze to Icicle, pouring over the wounds that dotted her once pristine body, her charred and dusty scales that once shined like a diamond, her lithe muscular form shrunken from days of stress and torment. 

Winter grimaced.

"She's too dangerous," the young queen said with a click of her talon. "She killed one of my subjects-"

"She was going after you too!" Kinkajou piped up, cutting Glory off. 

"Yes, yes," Glory said with a dismissive wave of her talons. "The point is, Prince Winter, I can't just let her fly out of here, even if it's with you to receive the wrath of the Icewing court. I am the sovereign ruler of the Nightwings too, and that means I have to represent what they want, lest there be chaos. However, I must also take care to avoid tension with the Ice Kingdom. It's a fine line I tread, so with all due respect, I do not need your input on this. I'll send for Queen Glacier, and we can work out a solution together. I'm certain you agree at least partially with me."

_'The rankings. Oh moons, what will happen to our rankings?' _Winter thought anxiously. 

_'Wait, Icicle said that Scarlet assured her that Hailstorm was still alive. If I can find and return him, then Glacier won't be so harsh, and maybe I'll even get a boost in the rankings. Wait, isn't that selfish? Icicle will think I stopped her so I can get all the glory! Argh!' _

"In the meantime, we'll keep her here, in the rainforest. Unfortunately, we'll have to keep her tranquilized," Glory sighed.

"What?!" Winter yelled, immediately surged from his sitting position, getting his spikes tangled with a nearby hammock. While wrestling himself from the smothering hug of the hammock, he continued, growling, "I need to speak with her!"

"I need a decent prison. We've just a quicksand pit, and unless you want her to be stuck in there for however long it takes Glacier to arrive, tranquilizers are the best we have," Glory shot back. "Has no Rainwing in history ever required imprisonment?" she asked the old healer reclining in the corner.

He gave a throaty laugh. "We don't imprison, we banish. After all, what could be worse than being thrown from the rainforest?"

Glory gave a groan, and Winter looked at her with a defeated expression.

"Tranquilizers it is, then," he admitted. 

"Your majesty, Deathbringer would like a word with you," a peach-colored dragon announced.

"Pardon me," Glory said with a small bow, before departing the room elegantly.

Winter strode over to the far wall where Kinkajou and Moon were sitting, leaned against each other for support. Qibli was busy examining the herbs and roots lined on the shelves nearby. 

"Now what am I supposed to do? I'm no closer to finding Hailstorm, and my sister's been captured by the Rainwings!" Winter growled at Qibli. "It was your brilliant idea to come here!"

Qibli thought for a moment before responding. "Well, Scarlet must have said something to Icicle recently that might be able to help us find Hailstorm. We just need to wait for her to wake up."

"Scarlet's dead, and Icicle won't be waking up if you were paying attention to what Glory was saying," Winter replied.

"It's Queen Glory," Kinkajou interjected from the corner.

"I suppose that's true. But Icicle would have killed more dragons, but now with Scarlet dead, she doesn't need to do any more killing for Scarlet," Qibli noted, completely disregarding Kinkajou.

"The only reason she was killing was so we can get Hailstorm back. But now the trail's gone dead for a few days at least, and I CAN'T wait around!" Winter growled loudly.

Moon groaned from a headache that came suddenly, then left just as quickly as it came. All eyes landed on her with concern. 

"Turtle and Peril are waiting for us at Possibility, and I got something else from the vision, but I can't remember it too clearly, some yellow Skywing involved," Moon sputtered, still trying to collect her scattered thoughts.

A blanket of silence was set over the group.

"Perfect timing, Moon. We can head to Possibility and see if we can get any leads," Winter said suddenly. Qibli nodded.

_'Knowing that Moon's future vision is rather sporadic, and give glimpses rather than full predictions, chances are either we do something, or something happens, that can lead us closer to Hailstorm.' _Winter thought giddily. 

The night was still young, but everyone was exhausted from the eventful day. Heavy heads hit the wooden platform, and breathing slowed. 

Winter took comfort in knowing that Icicle won't be dealing with Scarlet in her dreams, and with a plan for tomorrow, he lulled himself to sleep running circles in his head about Nico and Piper. How can one be descended from ideas, concepts, or events? It didn't make sense, but Winter was fine with that. 'Nothing made sense anymore' he thought dryly, before fading into nothingness. 

Qibli was musing about Nico and Piper, just like the rest of his winglet, but he didn't worry about their origin so much as what life would be like for them back home. He made a note to ask Moon more about them tomorrow on their way to Possibility.

Kinkajou was giddy wondering about the awesomeness of having powers like Nico, and fantasizing about the two demigods was how she slept, and she dreamt about life as a scavenger.

Moon was asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes, too tired to even think. Her sleeping form twitched, and her eye ridges were scrunched. 

_Wha-who-where am I?_

_Moon staggered around the dreamscape, confused, trying to collect her bearings. The blank landscape suddenly shimmered. She came face to face with a gravely wounded Kinkajou, blood and tears marring her body, a leg bent unnaturally. Moon wanted to scream. _

_"Shapeshifter did this to me," Kinkajou whimpered._

_Before Moon could even question who or what Shapeshifter was, Kinkajou's still form was suddenly whisked away, as if Moon suddenly moved backward several miles in an instant. A massive mountain materialized, Kinkajou's barely visible speck on its rocky surface. _

_'Did Kinkajou fall?' Moon mused, before being jolted from her thoughts. _

_A golden Skywing fell from the sky, roaring. _

_"Don't touch that!" she roared, batting and pushing at some invisible force or entity. Her teeth bared, struggling against something or someone, cuts appearing all over her, her arms, neck, underbelly. _

_Suddenly, with a disembodied scream, the Skywing turned to dust, and floated away, off into the distance. _

_Moon watched in horror as an Icewing dropped in front of her as soon as the last of the Skywing's screams vanished, the snapping of bones making her cringe. Her horror grew deeper as she realized it wasn't just any Icewing. It was Winter, and he was screaming. _

_Burns were spreading across his seizing body. His icy scales were blackened, charring, his flesh sizzling away boiling water. _

_"Moon, save me. Peril is a traitor!" he roared, pain woven into his plea. _

_"Wait, she wouldn't do this! She's changed!" Moon argued back, pushing down thoughts of Winter's death. _

_Winter only smirked before morphing into a red Skywing, with a scarred face, burns replaced with cuts and bruises as a roar sounded from above. Moon craned her head to see a furious orange Skywing dove down, claws outstretched. _

_With a slash and a howl of pain coming from the dragon underneath, the orange Skywing shot both foretalons out and gripped the neck of the helpless dragon underneath, muscles in her forearm bulging and straining. Once the dragon underneath lost consciousness, the orange dragon let go. Moon thought she was done, but the dragon only repositioned herself before twisting the neck of the red dragon, the brutal crunches and cracks ringing in Moon's ears. _

_Scarlet, Moon realized. Wait, didn't Scarlet die by a Skywing soldier named Jason, who Nico and Piper talked about. Glory even confirmed it, why am I hearing and seeing all of this if it didn't happen? It didn't make sense. _

_A green Rainwing was thrashing in the grasp of several dragons, near the edge of a forest. His breathing was hoarse and ragged, it was like he couldn't breathe almost. _

_"_ _No, don't. I didn't do anything wrong. Please let me stay! No!!" he screeched._

_"We are under orders that if you or your ugly scales are ever seen near the border of the forest, you die. Are we clear?" a soldier barked roughly, silencing the green Rainwing, whose head now hung in defeat as he accepted his fate. _

_A few more scenes flickered in Moon's head, but Moon couldn't really focus on it anymore. It was all the same, fighting, and dying. She was busy thinking, about Scarlet's death. If she died by a soldier named Jason, then who was the orange dragon? Was it some alternate universe, some other timeline? _

_Moon's head exploded with pain._

Moon shot up, stiff like a stick, panting heavily. Pain blossomed in her head. Moon thought it was from her nightmare, but she realized after a few moments it was from knocking into a shelf. Thankfully nothing fell or broke. 

Moon resituated herself in reality. Breathing the warm, humid air, listening to the ambient sounds of the rainforest, the chirps, and rustling of the leaves, taking in the morning light. Her headache faded quickly. Stretching her tight muscles and yawning, she turned to look at the others. They were still asleep. Moon roused Kinkajou, pushing a mango in front of Kinkajou, and watching with amusement as Kinkajou's snout perked, clearly picking up something interesting. Moon couldn't hold back her laughter when Kinkajou's eyes opened and immediately started eating the mango.

"What's so funny, Moon?" Kinkajou asked with a full snout. 

"I woke you up by pushing some random mango in front of you," Moon chortled, struggling to speak through her laughter.

Winter and Qibli were up instantly, woken up by her laughing. 

_'Won't have to wake them up at least. Three birds with one fruit,' Moon thought, pleased._

"What's all the commotion?" Qibli asked with a big yawn. "My dream was just getting good. It was about..." Qibli drifted off, eye ridge scrunched with concentration.

"Three moons I forgot. Crud," Qibli pouted.

"Well I had no such dreams because I do all my thinking awake," Winter said with a small smile.

"So that means you're never awake then," Qibli said smugly, before zooming off as Winter gave chase.

"Apologize to the prince! Now!" he roared. 

Kinkajou and Moon snickered. 

"Boys will be boys," Kinkajou said. Moon nodded. They packed some items, informed the queen where they were going, then left before she could object. 

Soon the four dragons were soaring through the cloudless sky, relishing the cool wind washing over their scales. Well, it was mostly Winter, eager to get out of the horribly hot and wet rainforest.

He would have had reservations about leaving Icicle behind, but he knew that Glory would keep her word, and it wasn't like he was going to get any close to finding Hailstorm just planting his rump in the wet forest floor and waiting. 

When the sun was at its height, bearing down, the group landed at a stream to rest and recover for the last leg of their flight to Possibility.

It is said that the Winding Tail River's headwaters were sourced from the ice-capped peaks of the Claws of the Clouds Mountains and ran past Jade Mountain into the sea. Between the river, and the largest lake of the Mudwing Territory, where Queen Moorhen's palace was located stood the largest known scavenger den in Phyrria. It wasn't hidden away like all other dens. It was large and fortified, standing tall, it was the only bastion of the scavengers that the dragons dare not tread. Stone walls stood tall, manned by scavengers that knew how to throw sharp projectiles and rocks. Winter wanted to avoid treading on scavenger property, but he was known for his interest in these things. He'd always believed there was something more to them. 

The den actually consisted of two sections. A large fortress down in the forest below, linked up with the cliff as the 4th wall, and a smaller cut out section higher up in the cliff, which oversaw the fortress below and the forest beyond that. 

Moon was hunting down in the forest, while Winter took the opportunity to keep stretching out his wings, and maybe even get a closer look at the scavengers. Kinkajou and Qibli were already situated on a rocky platform near the scavenger den cutout on the cliff. Kinkajou had already brought leaves and fruits from the rainforest to snack on. Qibli was remarkably lucky with his tail strikes at the river earlier and hauled up a freshwater shark to eat. He had offered some to Moon, but she refused it, wanting to hunt her own meals. 

Stalking in the undergrowth of the forest, keeping the sounds of her footfalls as light as possible and wings tucked close, Moon's sharp green eyes scanned the vicinity, her ears moving to located prey.

Hearing some rustling nearby, and something push at her mind, her interest was definitely piqued, and Moon moved closer, slowly craning her head to look around a bush. A soft murmur reached her ears, a soft tune hummed by none other than a scavenger. 

_Hopefully, these berries will impress Marzia. I need to get back before any dragons find me. Back to the safety of the castle and its ballistae. _

Moon blinked. Then blinked again. Suddenly, she realized the thoughts were coming from the scavenger about 5 dragon lengths in front of her. It carried a small woven basket half the size of her talons, as it picked berries from a bush. 

_Oh, this is definitely interesting. Scavengers definitely are intelligent, and I can read their minds. How-_

Something snapped, and the sound carried through the whole area. Moon visibly cringed, staring at the broken twig under her talons. She looked back at the scavenger, hoping it didn't notice. Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed as the scavenger's piercing blue gaze stared back at her. It started to back up slowly, but Moon didn't want it to leave just yet. She wanted to reach forward to stop it from running away. She wasn't going to eat him, just a closer look. But she knew any sudden movements would scare it away.

_Wait, that dragon looks_ _familiar._

Moon blinked, but her eyes widened the same time the scavenger's eyes widened.

_'I know you.' _They both thought in unison. 

It was Bandit, Winter's old pet scavenger he'd chased away soon right before Moonwatcher told her secret. 

"Can you understand me," Moon whispered slowly, enunciating every word, keeping her volume down and trying to appear unthreatening.

_Is it trying to talk?_

The scavenger squeaked as if to ask something. Moon couldn't make sense of the scavenger's squeaking, so she just nodded her head to its thoughts. The scavenger reeled back, then squeaked something again.

_Does she understand what I'm saying?_

Moon shook her head. 

The scavenger only stared at her.

_'Can she or can she not understand what I'm saying?' _the scavenger thought along with a pang of frustration at the communication barrier. 

A moment of silence, then another thought.

_What if she can read my mind. No, Felix, dum dum, that's no-_

Moon nodded her head furiously, seizing her chance to communicate with the scavenger.

Felix stared in awe as the black dragon who'd saved him from the other dragons in that dreaded mountain nodded furiously at his thought. The dragon could read minds!? Felix was astounded to say the least, falling backward, onto his butt. 

_'What should I ask?' _Felix thought.

The dragon shrugged. Felix gave a nervous laugh. 

_So you really can read my mind huh?_

The dragon nodded again.

_How does that happen?_

The dragon shrugged. 

_Right, yes, or no questions only. Felix, you're so small brain._

The dragon leaned back slightly and started making repeating noises, like hiccups. Felix burned with embarrassment. The dragon was laughing at him. Laughing at him!! Felix started to laugh too at the absurdity of the situation.

Winter flew in circular motions as he climbed higher, relishing the air that grew colder and colder, his scales sparkling after a dive into the river. Diving and climbing in the air, his carefree laughs carrying through the wind. Having shaken out the last of the weird feeling Winter got from the rainforest, he dove towards the scavenger den located on the cliff, each fly by revealing something new. 

Gardens, a circular wooden contraption that seemed to bring water from the nearby waterfall into the den.

He saw the scavengers dashing about, calling out to each other in loud, anxious chirps. Winter furrowed his brows. Something was wrong. He stopped to hover, keeping a respectful distance. Winter hoped it'd be enough. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Qibli, Moon, and Kinkajou resting on a stone ledge, having caught some game, whilst Kinkajou was feasting on her berries from the forest. The sun caught their scales in a particular way, and Winter took his gaze away from the scavengers to admire the colors of his compatriots.

_'Could I call them that now? What would my parents think? It doesn't matter. Would the scavengers be worried about dragons so close to their humble abode?' _Winter mused, watching the scavengers move something to the holes in the cliff. 

_'A sharp item, a contraption made of wood and thread. A scavenger with long fur, that ended like a tail reached over with a torch. An interesting fur style, it might be worth researching when all this is over,' _Winter continued musing.

He looked closer, and the horror dawned on him. They were planning on shooting something at Qibli, Moon, and Kinkajou. The fire licked at the metal tip of the projectile.

Winter called up the polar wind inside him, and blasted the weapon, snuffing the fire at the end of the weapon and creating a wall of ice the scavenger surely couldn't get through. 

"Time to move!" Winter barked. "They're aiming weaponry at us. Move, move move!"

"Why would they want to attack us? I don't even eat them, do I look like I'd eat them?" Kinkajou complained, her scales vibrantly expressing her frustration. Before Winter could even object, Kinkajou dove towards the cutout in the cliff, hooked her talons on the device and tore it out with a surprising show of strength. The scavengers rushed away from Kinkajou squeaking with fear. 

"Now they're really going to want to shoot you. Let's get out of here," Winter said with a huff, before turning tail and continuing on the trip to Possibility. It was just over the mountains, along a river that started just on the other side of the range. 

Back in the skies after a short intermission, Moon broke the silence first.

"I found your pet scavenger, Bandit," Moon said to Winter. "Had to save him from a bear, but I was kind of distracting him so I owed it. Anyways that's how I got the bear."

Winter looked at Moon with an incredulous expression.

"What happened? How'd you find him? Tell me everything and don't leave out a single story. Kinkajou and Qibli also came closer.

"Should we land first?" Moon asked.

The other dragons shrugged and started to dive, following the slope of the mountain as it flattened out into a plain Crisscrossed with small streams and small trees.

Making themselves comfortable around a small stream, Moon started telling Winter what happened. About the humming she heard, the thoughts she heard, the little basket with berries, even that Bandit, or Felix, as she heard in his head was getting berries to impress someone named Marzia. Everyone was flabbergasted, especially Winter. 

"So my suspicions that scavengers were smarter than previously thought are wholly and completely correct?" Winter asked, to which Moon nodded affirmation. 

"He lives in that scavenger den, so if you want to visit him anytime, I can come with to help translations," Moon offered. Winter smiled slightly, but it was replaced with a frown. 

"So it also meant I was mistreating another intelligent being?" 

"Unfortunately, yes. Don't feel bad about it, though. You tried your best, and you didn't know any better," Moon replied.

"Aw, look at Winter being all mushy and nice and stuff with scavengers," Qibli chirped, clapping his talons like a dragonet. Winter shot him a dirty glare, but it didn't do anything to dim his excitement.

Staring down at his talons, Winter didn't notice the dark shape swimming up the river, moving fast. Until the water's surface broke, and the first hints of sound reached his ears, he didn't even look at the threat until its claws were already wrapped around his throat. 

Winter roared furiously, swinging his sharp serrated talons in a wide arc in front of him. The attacker leaped off of him backing out of his attack's reach. 

"Hey, that was rude!" the new dragon complained. "You could have hurt my handsome snout," he continued, running his talons over his snout to make sure none of his handsomeness was affected. 

Winter snarled, "You deserved it for attacking me like that."

"I was practicing my stealth, cold dragon," the new dragon said, shaking off some water. 

Winter had the opportunity to eye up this dragon. He was a Seawing, a few years older, but much scrawnier. 

"I wouldn't have actually hurt you."

Winter smirked. "That's true because I would have ripped off your tail and beat you to death before you could lay a single claw on my pristine scales."

"Nice," Qibli hollered from above. "No more face-ripping this time, 10/10 for creativity."

"Squid!" a new voice hollered.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat," Squid whined, drawing out the word.

"No interaction with new dragons without my permission! I thought I made that clear, but clearly, you have squids for brains," the new voice answered. "What do you do instead? Do the exact opposite of my orders."

Squid slapped the water with his wings, splashing a very irritated Winter. Moon and Kinkajou watched the interaction with amusement, sharing hushed whispers among themselves.

"Go take your shenanigans elsewhere and leave these dragons alone," the new voice ordered.

Squid pouted and jumped back into the stream, a flick of his tail splashing Winter with water again. He roared and spat a bolt of frostbreath at the banks, freezing a part of the water.

He grumbled Qibli gave a short chuckle at Winter's treatment. Winter glared at the new dragon approaching him. The new dragon dipped his head respectfully, which softened Winter's scowl.

"I apologize for Squid's uncouth actions. Let's pretend that never happened," the new dragon said. Winter nodded.

"I'm Riptide, and well, you guys practically landed right outside one of our operating locations, so we'd be hard-pressed to not investigate. Since we're here already, we'll have you sit tight here, and we'll ask you lot some questions before we can let you leave."

Winter just huffed and sat down, letting the adrenaline of Squid's surprise attack leave his system. 

Soar stared glumly at his talons. He couldn't have a deal with Scarlet if she was dead, completely fried into nothing but ashes. When the news reached him during his time as Shapeshifter in the Talons of Peace camp a few days ago, he'd been floored. The fashion in which Scarlet died was insane, and Soar couldn't believe it. He held jurisdiction over Darkstalker's scroll and animus enchantments as a result, and his deal with Scarlet means extorting Peril, his own daughter in this form to help Scarlet take back her throne. Pyrite was just another pawn in Scarlet's gambit for the throne. Soar begrudgingly went along the promises of riches too alluring to resist. But, with Scarlet gone, and none of his promised payment, his side of the bargain would drop too. He wouldn't extort his daughter, and he felt plain terrible for Hailstorm, who was currently unaware of the fact that she, Pyrite, was actually an Icewing Prince. Soar tried to convince her to take off her enchanted necklace, and return her to her former state in the cover of night, but that failed. She was still locked by the clause stating that she must act as if her life depended on the necklace's presence. 

Soar sighed, and let some memories flow through him. 

He'd been hatched a Rainwing, a pretty normal one at that. He liked meat, sure, but that was it. He could shift scales, albeit a bit worse than others. He lived a relatively content life. A freak accident with a Nightwing changed that. The Nightwing jumped him as he was minding his own business, eating a jaguar. He fought back furiously against his attacker, unlike the other Rainwings. Resistance proved to be futile, as the Nightwing's crushing grip shattered his snout. He managed to weasel out of the grip with his snout dangling limply, and blind one eye of the Nightwing with a stray swipe of his talons. His snout didn't heal properly, and he'd live with the consequences for the rest of his life. He'd later find out that the Nightwings were abducting Rainwings to conduct research for an eventual take over of the rainforest. It turned out they lived on a horrible volcanic island and were going to die if they didn't get out. 

Soar laughed dryly. The self-proclaimed greatest tribe of the dragons brought low by a mere dragonet who ascended to the throne out of necessity, out of duty and desire to rescue the Rainwings, and turn the Rainwings into something more, possibly. There were many stories surrounding the new Rainwing Queen. She might even sympathize with him, and reverse the order to banish him, but he knew that'd probably never happen, and with a pang of resentment, pushed the thought down. 

He was Soar now, a Skywing, and the father of Peril, Scarlet's notorious death monster. He needed to get the Hailstorm situation sorted out, and find his daughter. Hopefully, he could write one last enchantment, for his daughter to switch freely between firesales and normal. If Scarlet had been alive, the enchantment would be different, but that didn't matter now. He just wanted to settle down somewhere quiet, away from the Rainwings, and spend a quiet life with his daughter. 

"Hey, Soar. Are you good?" Pyrite asked.

_'It's a good dream. Let's hope something just walks into camp and sets the whole process in motion,' _Soar thought, disregarding Pyrite. 

The sound of chatter reached his ears. Looking up he saw four new dragons walk into camp. An Icewing, a Nightwing, much to Soar's astonishment, a Sandwing, and a Rainwing.

Soar suppressed his anger and vengeance for just a moment to hear what's going on.

"We're on our way to Possibility to await Turtle and Peril. They're the rest of our winglet. It was kind of an impromptu decision by the teachers, but Clay vouched for Peril, and with Carnelian's murder, Peril's our Skywing now."

"Oh, you dragonets are from Jade Mountain?"

"You bet!" Kinkajou cheerily said. 

Perhaps he should squeeze the life out of that little twat. The cheer was insufferable, and it only served to sprinkle the old wound in his heart with salt. 

An old Icewing walked up to the group. Soar watched as the younger Icewing bristled in anticipation.

"Who are you?" the young Icewing asked. 

"Cirrus of the Icewings. What about you, runt?" Cirrus hissed. 

"I'm Prince Winter," Winter replied, almost unsure. Soar smiled. "How come I don't know you, Cirrus?" Winter continued.

"It's a big tribe," Cirrus vague replied. Winter looked skeptical of that statement at best but before he could continue, he was interrupted by Qibli. 

"Hi Serious," the Sandwing piped.

"It's Cirrus!" the Icewing roared. The Icewing prince cracked a small smile. 

"Cirrus has been with the Talons of Peace far longer than I. He probably left before you were hatched," Riptide said, dousing the tension. 

Soar couldn't help but laugh. He was always one to poke fun at Cirrus, at seeing Cirrus's composure bend so easy was amusing, to say the least. Cirrus just stomped off. 

"So then, who are these Skywings?" Winter asked Riptide.

"When did this turn into a tour of our camp?" Riptide mused aloud. 

"No clue," some other dragon said.

"I'm Soar, and this is Pyrite," Soar said, trying to avert his gaze from the eyesore that was Kinkajou. 

"We should probably get going to Possibility, Winter," Moon cut in.

"Take me with you," Soar blurted out before he could think through his words.

"Why should we? You're with the Talons of Peace, you can practically go wherever whenever," Qibli replied.

Soar looked down for a second. Should he tell the truth with all these dragons around? He sighed.

"I'm Peril's father, and I've been wanting to meet her ever since the Great War ended. I fled Scarlet's reign of tyranny, fearing that Peril's existence may have lead to Scarlet putting her sights on me," he admitted, hiding some crucial details. Moonwatcher crinkled her snout and whispered something to Qibli and Winter. Soar started getting anxious as Winter strutted up to him, inspecting him closely. 

"Why are we to believe you?" he asked.

"I'm telling the truth! I want to see my daughter after all these years, is that too much to ask?" Soar replied, raising his voice.

"I'm guessing you want to bring Pyrite too, then. No?" he replied. 

Soar was taken aback. 

_How'd he know? Did it have anything to do with the Nightwing? Could that Nightwing read minds? It wasn't just a myth after all?_

His eyes darted around, taking note of things. Soar gritted his teeth. Winter smirked.

Kinkajou suddenly darted between the two, trying to force them apart as they stared each other down. That was the final straw.

Soar let out a loud roar and batted Kinkajou away, knocking her unconscious with a single blow, and the sound of something snapping caused everyone to fall silent. Soar sneered at Kinkajou.

"Filthy Rainwing," he smirked, before turning his attention back to Winter. 

Everyone stared in shock at Kinkajou's still form, then back at Soar. All pandemonium broke loose. Winter charged at Soar, roaring angrily. Qibli shot to Kinkajou and tried to assess the injuries best he could, having picked up a few skills in the Scorpion Den, running down a checklist of things. Riptide and Cirrus, along with the other Talons of Peace members immediately left, eager to avoid the violence. This was for the dragons involved to sort out. 

_'Pulse, steady. Bones, which one broke? Legs? No... Ah, ooh, that has to hurt,' _Qibli said, gingerly feeling Kinkajou's forearm. 

Moonwatcher was assisting Winter against Soar. Pyrite jumped in and tried to separate the combatants, but a stray swing from Winter tore the necklace from her neck, and she shrieked loudly, falling to the ground. 

It wouldn't have been much of a concern to the dragons present if Pyrite just lay there, but she didn't. She convulsed back and forth on the ground, like a snake trying to worm its way across rocks. Her orange scales started to shift, her body shifting, growing longer, taller, stouter. Her snout narrowed and lengthened. Her claws got sharper, as serrations etched themselves in. Spikes and spines pushed through her tail tip and all along with her head and spine that clacked as she continued shaking.

The freak event ended as soon as it started, as an Icewing lay were Pyrite once was. His eyes opened, the blue piercing everyone's gaze as he shakily got to his feet and looked around. Everyone was frozen, jaws agape at his transformation. 

His gaze landed on an Icewing locked in combat with a Skywing. He staggered forward, trying to get used to his new form. He racked his confused brain for knowledge and information.

"Lil' bro, is that you? Long time no see," he asked hoarsely with a dry laugh. 

Winter only stared back, shivers running up and down his body. He couldn't move, couldn't talk. All he could do was look at his long lost brother, looking confused. 

"Holy snakes," Qibli whispered, having finished a rudimentary splint for Kinkajou. "Is that - are you - ?" 

Everyone present shuddered. Pyrite no longer existed, and in her place was an Icewing. 

Soar looked relieved. It seemed to have just fallen into place, and all it took was a little scuffle. It'd been years since he last saw Pyrite as Hailstorm, but he pushed the thoughts down and watched the reunion.

"Hailstorm?" Winter whispered, his voice wavering. "But how? You were just - you were a Skywing named Pyrite? I saw you! How did this happen?"

"What have you been eating to get so big?" Hailstorm asked, disregarding Winter's questions. He stopped walking forward and rubbed his eyes as if trying to wake up from a dream. He held his talons up and clenched it, trying to make sense of what happened. "Why am I the wrong color? Why am I so cold? What have you done to me?" he yelped. He was about to continue freaking out but was silenced as something weighed him down. He looked down, startled, to see Winter hugging him, sobbing, tears hitting the ground like a rainstorm.

Hailstorm stiffened for a second, but relaxed, hugging Winter back, his head gingerly resting on Winter's as he tried to remember everything. The Icewing Palace, the chill of the wind as he flew, catching seals and bears and whales. His little brother, whom he loved so much, he gave his life (well, part of it) to save him. It all came back to Hailstorm like a rush, and so did his tears, dripping down his face, onto Winter. He was so weak. He should never have been captured, and he should not be crying. He couldn't help it, and so he let it flow freely. 

It was several minutes before anyone spoke to interrupt the tender moment. 

"Guys, we need to get Kinkajou fixed up. Like I'm sorry to ruin this moment and everything, but Kinkajou's leg has been broken," Qibli said after a long while.

Winter was still enjoying the feeling and weight that came with a hug, and it was from Hailstorm no less. He wanted to stay there forever. As much as he hated to admit it, Qibli was right. He had to be strong for others, and that meant getting Kinkajou to safety. 

Speaking of Kinkajou, Winter wormed his way out of his brother's embrace and glared at Soar.

All eyes turned to Soar, the one who batted Kinkajou aside.

"What's your problem with Rainwings, Soar?" Winter snarled.

"It's not like you Icewings are to talk, think you're so superior to other tribes," Soar shot back.

"That doesn't answer the question, Soar," Qibli said. 

Soar snarled and bared his teeth, but a moment of clarity made him realize he wasn't helping himself. He sat down, defeated.

"I was a Rainwing once. I was pretty happy with my life. Well, that was until a Nightwing attacked me and crushed my snout. Never healed properly, couldn't sleep, and then couldn't change colors. The other Rainwings banished me for not being able to shift my scales. They got annoyed with me being grumpy, framed me for murder, and then gave me the boot," Soar said, as he relived the painful memories.

"So how are you a Sky-" Qibli started but was cut off.

"Shut up. I'm not done," Soar snarled. "I found a scroll in an abandoned city. I realized right from the get-go that it was animus touched. I learned to read and write just so I can use it. Gave me several forms, including this one. It was this form that I sired Peril with. She's my only daughter and after her supposed death. After the Great War, I found out that she was still alive, and well, I wanted to meet her and settle down, father-daughter somewhere. We have some much-needed family time to catch up on. So I made a deal with Scarlet. I help her take back the throne, and she grants me riches and promises to leave me and Peril alone from her plans after the fact."

The other listened silently. Soar looked around, and there was still no hint of the Talons of Peace.

"I know you guys are probably mad at me for causing a whole lot of drama. Pyrite was a part of Scarlet's master plan to extort Icewings into doing what she wanted, and I abetted," Soar admitted grimly, looking down at his talons in shame. "I don't ask for forgiveness for what I've done. It seems I've done far too much for that now. I probably ruined your family with the whole debacle," Soar continued, pointing at Winter, before pausing. 

"You know, you're lucky that Hailstorm was kept in the dungeons, and not the fighting platforms above. The Nightwings attacked it, and slew all the Icewings as they were chained and helpless," Soar said after a while. Soar looked to the sky and sighed. 

"I don't want to do this anymore. It weighs heavy on my soul. I just want a quiet life with my daughter somewhere. Scarlet's death kind of freed me from having to do anything else for that wretched dragon," Soar finished.

"So what happened to that scroll?" Moon asked. 

"Oh, that silly old thing. I can give it to you if you want, but I want a parting gift from that thing if you want," Soar replied.

"Really now? Make your demands then," Qibli asked.

"A piece of paper from the scroll. I'll write an enchantment that makes fire scales something that can be controlled, turned on and off. It'd be a gift for my daughter, Peril. No other strings attached," Soar answered. "You know, you guys are being awfully nice to me considering what I've done."

"Well, I was going to maul your face after you said you probably ruined my family, but it wouldn't help," Winter helpfully added.

"Well, I wouldn't have let you do that, but thanks, I guess," Soar responded, before opening his sack, pulling out a scroll, and an inkwell. He motioned for Hailstorm to give him the locket from nearby. Hailstorm shuddered, then kicked it over, clearly not wanting anything to do with it. Soar sighed, then tore off a small piece of the scroll, and wrote a single sentence.

'Enchant this paper to let the wearer of the locket in which this paper is contained control her fire scales with a simple, definitive on or off mental command'

Soar rolled up the paper, and opened the locket, and dropped it in. 

"Oh, here's the Pyrite enchantment if any of you want it," Soar said, before stowing the locket away. He relaxed and sat back, watching the dragonets hunch over the paper. 

"We can go to Possibility when we're ready. I can't wait to meet Peril," he said joyously, feeling liberated and free for the first time in his life.

_Enchant this paper so that any dragon who wears it in the form of a necklace, he or she shall become a Skywing named Pyrite, with the following conditions:_

_1) Completely loyal to Queen Scarlet and the Skywing tribe_

_2) Insecure and meek_

_3) No memory of his or her former identity_

_4) Compelled to wear this necklace at all times with life-or-death urgency_

"Three moons, this enchantment is twisted," Moon whispered, glancing at Soar. 

"It's like it was tailored specifically for you, Hailstorm," Winter snarled. "If you have doubts that you're Pyrite, the evidence is in front of you, Hailstorm."

Everyone watched Hailstorm struggle to comprehend that his life for a long time was dictated by a single piece of paper. Winter folded it up.

"Soar, can I have the locket for a little experiment?" he asked.

"Go ahead. I haven't a care in the world right now," Soar said, taking the gift for his daughter out of the locket, and handing it back to Winter. 

"Winter, what are you planning to do?" Qibli asked concern etched over his face. 

"I need to know what it's like. You guys are going to make sure nothing goes wrong," Winter replied hastily as he assembled the chain.

"It's going to turn you into Pyrite. Like, it's not a big loss, but everyone is at least 80 percent sure we want Winter, not Pyrite," Qibli observed.

"I want Winter 100 percent. Don't put it on, Winter. Please," Hailstorm pleaded. "I can't have you feeling the way I feel right now. It's awful."

"That's exactly why. I can't help you that effectively if I don't know what you're going through, Hailstorm," Winter shot back, determined. 

"I understand, but can I see the paper first?" Qibli asked.

"You better not tear it up," Winter growled.

"Never in a million years," Qibli said. Winter growled louder. "Relax, I'm joking. I'm going to tear off condition number 4, so we can get it off without you fighting us."

Soon, Winter slipped the necklace over his head, and everything went blank.

Everyone watched as Winter's new form, Pyrite staggered and looked around. Hailstorm was horrified, but to everyone's relief, almost as soon as it went off, it came off, with Winter roaring with confusion, clawing at his head.

"GET HER OUT GET HER OUT!!!" he yelled, clawing at his head as he wheeled backward, before landing on hot ashes and howling in pain. Leaping off, Hailstorm exhaled some frost breath on the wound to calm Winter down.

Soar chuckled at the sight. Qibli was doubled over laughing. Winter's face was flushed blue as he saw everyone laughing. Inside, he was horrified by the experience of being Pyrite. If spending just moments like that was so horrible, he couldn't even imagine how Hailstorm felt.

"We're destroying the enchantment," Winter announced, peeling the enchantment out. He tossed the locket back to Soar, who caught it expertly. He looked at the paper with disgust, before exhaling frostbreath on it, freezing it. He dropped it to the ground, and stomped on it, shattering it. 

"Breathe fire on it," he commanded.

"With pleasure," Qibli said, before letting loose a searing bolt of flame. 

Winter joined in again, blasting the spot on the ground with his frostbreath. After he was absolutely, 100 percent, thoroughly certain the parchment no longer exists, he let up, as did Qibli. Winter smiled at Qibli.

Moon's concerned voice broke through the tender moment between the two.

"Let's get moving. There will be a clinic in Possibility, we can get Kinkajou treated there."

"We're ready to get going then?" Soar asked rhetorically.

"Yep. You can give us the animus touched scroll, then?" Qibli asked.

"Oh, yes. I almost forgot," Soar said, fishing the scroll out. "Take care of it, and don't let it fall into the wrong talons. You saw how much trouble happened with just two enchantments, and I wasn't even trying to do anything big or evil. Well, that bad anyways. Again, I'm really, really sorry about all the trouble I caused you guys. I still wish I could take some of what I did back, really. I digress. Take care of it. I'm not responsible for it anymore," he finished before gingerly handing the scroll over. 

_You know, Soar, that when you first realized it was animus touched, you had so many ambitions and dreams about what you could do with so much power, but the more time went on, the more you realized it was a curse. It was always a debate about what to do without hurting others. Deep down, you just wanted to be happy. You got wrapped up in so much drama. The scroll represents a whole 13 years of your life, starting with your exile from the Rainforest Kingdom._

Soar smiled. It was time for a new life, as he watched the scroll get handed to Moon, who placed it in a pouch tied around her neck, the insignia of Jade Mountain on it.

They quickly assembled a stretcher from the nearby reeds and a few branches, and Soar guiltily looked at Kinkajou's body. He made a mental note to ask about the new Rainwing Queen.

"I can carry her on the way to Possibility. I need to make it up," Soar offered, wanting to completely wipe his previous actions of his soul, so that meant either leaving it behind or making it up.

Hefting the stretcher between his claws and that of Winter and Qibli, they lifted off, flying off into the afternoon sun.

As for the other Talons of Peace members, well only Riptide stayed to listen to everything after everyone fled from the fight, wanting no part in the drama. 

"Soar always gave off the feeling that he was hiding something. Never knew he had _that _much to hide," Riptide said to himself. He smiled and jumped back into the river from where he was hiding. 

_'Tsunami would have his head if I ever told her. Probably shouldn't,' _Riptide thought, amused. 


	34. Journey to Possibility II

Winter and Qibli were taking turns sharing the burden of carrying Kinkajou with Soar, but Soar insisted on doing the most work. Neither Winter nor Qibli could complain, really. With all the flying they've done already, combined with Kinkajou's weight meant they couldn't carry the stretcher for significant stretches of time. Soar's massive wings and frame also mitigated the problem of carrying Kinkajou. 

Moon flew behind the trio, side by side with Hailstorm, keeping a careful eye on Kinkajou, concerned for her friend. She shuddered whenever her mind drifted back the conversation back at the Talons of Peace camp. Hearing Soar growl 'filthy Rainwing' warranted a good brain scrub, she reckoned. Occasionally fiddling with the animus enchanted item now hung around her neck. 

Hailstorm just observed the ground below, and Moon's mindreading only told her that Hailstorm was thinking in circles.

_'My name is Hailstorm. I am the first hatched son of Tundra and Narwhal. I will reach the top of the rankings and make my parents proud. My younger brother and sister are named Winter and Icicle respectively. I am a noble, royal Icewing, and there's no other dragon I'd rather be. My name is Hailstorm_ _. I am the first hatched son of Tundra and Narwhal. I will reach the top of the rankings and make my parents proud. My younger brother and sister are named Winter and Icicle respectively. I am a noble, royal Icewing, and there's no other dragon I'd rather be...'_

After a while flying with nothing but the whistling of the wind in their ears, Winter broke the silence.

"Do you want to know all the fallout your little stunt caused, in my family specifically? Chances are it's probably worse than you think," Winter growled.

"It'd probably weigh heavy on my head for the rest of my life, but go on," Soar replied.

"Well, under Scarlet's influence, Icicle attempted to kill the librarian of our school, Starflight, who was one of the Dragonets of Destiny, keep that in mind," Winter said, but before he could continue, Soar cut in.

"Oh, that little Nightwing. Scarlet was so furious that she couldn't have fun with him in the arena, facing all sorts of foes, then the Rainwing spat venom at Burn, but that sly Sandwing shoved Scarlet in the way," Soar managed to get out before dissolving into laughter. "Scarlet definitely had it coming. She was such a nightmare to interact with. I'm surprised she didn't take my head off just for being annoying."

"Speaking of," Winter added, Soar bracing himself for an angry insult-ridden tangent that never came. 

"Icicle then went to the Rainforest, killed a Nightwing, ripped his underbelly out, and frosted his inside. She was trying to assassinate Queen Glory for Scarlet. She stopped sleeping so she wouldn't have to talk to Scarlet about her failures, afraid that Scarlet would show her Hailstorm's execution. Now she's in big legal trouble with 3 blasted tribes! Then we find out Hailstorm has been brainwashed into a pathetic Skywing who idolizes Scarlet more than I idolize my parents, and that's saying something!" Winter ranted.

"All this because you wanted some quiet life with your mass-murderer of a daughter?" he finished.

"Peril's a mass murderer?" Soar asked, shocked.

"Yes. How come you of all dragons don't know? Scarlet used her as the alpha and the omega of her bloody arenas. The first and the last of the fighters. Her firesales made her invincible against her opponents. She probably executed hundreds, burning them into crisps as the crowds roared in approval," Winter growled.

"She doesn't deserve a quiet life after what she did, and neither do you if I'm being wholly honest," Winter admitted. 

Soar thought pensively for a while, whilst Winter looked at him expectantly. 

"I can only speak for myself, young prince. But just because I abetted with Scarlet's requests doesn't mean I'm wholly responsible. Every single dragon out there does or says things they probably regret in the heat of the moment. Granted, mine was stretched over a period of time, but relinquishing a dream visitor and performing a single enchantment for Scarlet because of what she promised me shouldn't mean I don't get a new chance at life," Soar said after a while of silent flying. "Heck, you probably did or said something in the heat of the moment that you regret, no?"

Winter gave thought to those words, breathing deeply as the memory flitted through his mind.

_The eleventh hunt. I remember it was like it was yesterday, even though it occurred before I even lost Hailstorm. The sky was pale purple, the air was perfect, the right amount of cold and dry for an Icewing. The hunt was for the feast and the first dragon to return, bearing a polar bear was bestowed with the honor of being seated next to the queen. It was my first encounter with a scavenger. Never saw one so far north, and those eyes. So dragon-like. That incident kind of ruined my rankings, and lead me to brashly go on the scavenger searching excursion resulting in Hailstorm's capture. If only I'd kept myself focused on the objective, maybe none of that would have happened. _

"I suppose that's fair, but then what about your daughter? There shouldn't be an excuse for killing hundreds, right?" he asked.

"Well, I was today years old when I found out she killed so many, to begin with," Soar replied sheepishly. "I think it's horrible really, but I can't say anything in her defense."

"Maybe I can," Qibli said. Winter and Soar both craned their head slightly. 

"Everyone in the Sandwing Kingdom has heard about Peril. Well, only that she killed a lot and was doing so in Scarlet's arena. But before we left to stop Icicle and find Hailstorm, we did have a few days of relative peace and fun at Jade Mountain. I noticed Peril around the place, it seemed like she was scared, truth be told. She was always trying to make herself as small as possible, took the most remote paths, spent a lot of time alone, etc. I know Winter probably would be offended by her presence and then try to claw her face off only to get burnt, right Winty?" Qibli joked to a very unamused Winter. 

"Well, the point is, she's trying her best to keep other students safe. Winter, you remember her using her fire invulnerability to go into the cactus bombed room and get two other students out? It was too late for Bigtail, but Tamarin survived because of her actions. I spent some time asking the teachers about Peril. Tsunami didn't like her much, but she doesn't like anyone very much. Sunny and Clay had much to say in her favor. Peril was the one who set them free from Scarlet's arena and helped them escape. She saved Clay's life at the Sandwing stronghold by burning the poison from a viper out of him. She also helped activate his fire immunity. Clay's the only dragon that can physically interact with her at the moment. Also, Peril was also kind of, um, abused by Scarlet to put it lightly, according to Clay at least," Qibli declared.

"That's a lot to take in," Soar said, before returning to silence once again. 

"Oh, I almost forgot. Can any of you tell me about the new Rainwing Queen?" Soar asked. "Or is the only dragon who knows anything currently unconscious, thanks to me?" he added glumly.

"Well, I think I can answer your question, Soar," a quiet voice from behind him said.

"Moon? I thought you Nightwings only moved in a few months ago," Soar asked, bewildered.

"Well, every dragon thinks that, but I've been there since I was hatched, believe it or not. Granted, I only appeared on the Queen's radar a few months ago with the other Nightwings," Moon answered. 

"Queen Glory is great, to say the least. If what Kinkajou says is to be believed, Glory risked her life to get Rainwings out of Mastermind's lab even as the volcano was beginning to erupt. She also overthrew the queen rotation system. Also, during the games to vie for the position, she found out she was related to Grandeur, who was in turn related to Queen Anaconda from all the thousands of years ago. She's part of the royal lineage, basically. She's really fair and just, treats the Nightwings well despite what they've done to the Rainwings. I think you should come to visit the rainforest sometime," Moon answered.

"I'll think about it, she sounds better than the lazy, arrogant queens of my day, who only abused their position for luxury. Alas, I think I'll stay a Skywing for the rest of my life," Soar answered.

"We've arrived at our destination. A certain Possibility," Qibli announced. "Let's go find that clinic."

"Possibility?" Moon asked. "That's a bizarre name for a town."

"Well, when both sides merged, neither wanted to take the name of the other. The citizens spent several years bickering about what to name it but after a vote, the majority settled on 'Possibility'," Qibli answered.

The dragons started to descend into a city that lay on disputed territory. The magnificent 5 Tail River delta was the heart of the bustling city, but its position also landed it as a prime piece of land, one which the Sandwings and Skywings spent centuries fighting over. Yet, over the course of the Great War, the Sandwing and Skywing side on opposite ends of the river started merging into one city, and thus Possibility was born, united by a massive bridge where dragons from all the tribes traded and bartered. It has been said that the name was meant to invoke the possibility of hope and cooperation between tribes. It's kind of obvious, really. 

"I like that. It's the possibility of hope and peace, but not guaranteed. Both sides have to actively strive for it," Moon said, a small smile flitting across her face, but it soon morphed into a strained grimace.

"Wait, shouldn't we land in the outskirts so that we don't draw attention to ourselves?" Winter asked tentatively.

"I second that," Moon said, her voice strained.

Qibli realized that Moon needed time to slip the voices in her head away. He nodded an affirmative, and Soar followed his lead as the group descended onto the outskirts, where it was still tranquil. 

"Do you know your way around this place, Qibli?" Winter asked, after setting down the stretcher and shaking out his sore arm as spikes and talons worked their way out.

"You bet. Everyone, stay here, in the shade. I'm going to go locate the clinic," Qibli said, before rushing off.

Winter turned back to his brother, who was looking at the city with interest.

"How are you feeling, Hailstorm? Has everything cleared up for you? Or am I being foolish and expecting it to happen much faster?" he asked his brother. 

"It's weird. I feel like two separate dragons in one body. I still have all of Pyrite's memories and thoughts. I'm trying to fight back, for your sake, but it's all so WEIRD!" Hailstorm roared, clearly frustrated with himself. Winter looked at him with concern, but his little experiment with the necklace didn't offer the same experience that wearing it for several years would.

"What do you remember about being her prisoner?" Winter asked. Hailstorm shook his head.

"I was never her prisoner. I was a loyal soldier for her, I hatched a Skywing dragonet. Wait, no that's not right. I think I hatched an Icewing. Well, maybe I am a Skywing who's enchanted to be an Icewing..." he rambled with a small laugh. Winter's face furrowed with concern. 

Hailstorm held his talons out, then shut his eyes, scrunching with effort.

"You're Hailstorm. My older brother, eldest hatched of Narwhal and Tundra. You are an Icewing prince, and you always have been. You were always so confident and at ease. You made being at the top of the rankings look so easy. Sometimes I wished I were more like you. But this isn't you. This is Pyrite fighting against you," Winter growled, getting frustrated. 

_Would his brother ever be the same? He looked so lost. He's killed those of his own tribe for a queen he hated. _

Hailstorm let out a sob as he pressed his forehead against a tree as if to keep his brain from spilling out. He clawed desperately at a tree, the noise of snapping bark and shredding wood, along with the heavy scent of sap filled the air.

Winter glanced at Moon, who looked as horrified as he felt. Soar was looking at the ground, talons clenched. Winter wanted to use the animus touched scroll to help his brother, but it didn't feel right with him. Maybe Hailstorm needs time as Hailstorm for the doubt and duality to clear from his system.

_'Would it even be safe to bring Hailstorm back to the Ice Kingdom?' _Winter pondered, but just as he was about to push the thought back, he was jolted from his thoughts.

"Qibli's back," Moon said.

Winter looked back to see Qibli swooping down, before flaring his wings and landing in front of them.

"Directions to the clinic. Meerkat's going to move ahead and alert the doc of our arrival," he announced, breathless. 

The group started filing through the city, Kinkajou's stretcher carried between them. Winter observed all the chaos. The sounds, smells, and sights.

"This place is weird," Winter whispered to Qibli. "There's no order, no central authority."

"So order means having identical igloos?" Qibli asked with an aloof smile.

Winter was rather offended. "What, no!? We don't live in igloos. Well, not the aristocracy at least."

"Weren't you related to someone important? Pardon my most forgetful memory, but you mentioned that before, didn't you?" Qibli wondered aloud, his grin growing wider. Winter just huffed and wrinkled his snout.

"So, tell me about your planned cities. What's it like?" Qibli asked. Winter's eyes widened slightly.

"No one told me you could ask genuine questions," Winter laughed. Qibli only smiled.

"Well then, listen up, Hailstorm. It might jog your memory more," Winter announced, before continuing. "Our cities are very carefully planned. It's clear where power and wealth are concentrated, and who controls it. Order and clarity are built into the design. It seems the only design here if it can be called that, is chaos."

"I love it," Qibli replied, taking a deep breath. "It smells like freedom. Freedom to be who you want to be. Freedom to do what you want to do. You'd be accountable to no one, provided you're not doing anything objectively bad like stealing or killing. You don't have to be something you don't have to be."

"Freedom smells awfully like rotting water buffalo," Winter remarked. He noticed Moon's reaction to what Winter said as if what Qibli said made more sense.

_Would it be worth it, trading order and stability for freedom? Doesn't everyone want an overarching structure to keep things safe and stable? Predictable? Is the freedom to do what I want and be who I want to be worth the risks? _

Winter shook the thoughts from his head. 

"I think Sunny would love this place. It's like her dream come true," Moon remarked.

"It's not as good as some make it out to be. With freedom comes danger. It's a trade-off, really. The government here is largely minimal. A small army to keep the order and enforce the basic rules. Beyond that, dragons are free to do as they please. Some aren't well equipped to function without orders, or they can't find their way here," Qibli replied, pointing at offensive signs that can be seen dotted around the place, and the unfortunate on the side of the road begging for their livelihoods. 

"Well, it's a start in the right direction," Moon said.

"Looks like we're here," Qibli said, stopping in front of a large whitewashed structure, a sign with red ink read 'doctor.'

A young Sandwing shot out of the entrance and reached for the stretcher. 

"Howdy, y'all. I'm Meerkat. I'll be taking the injured inside, wait here or out back in the garden while the doctor does her work," he announced with a friendly nod, before whisking Kinkajou away. 

"Why can't we go in?" Winter asked.

"Mayfly is strict about having the space to work properly. Only one of you can go in," Meerkat replied.

"The doctor is a Mudwing?" Winter asked.

"Yup. Best in Possibility," Meerkat responded with a smile, before heading back inside. Moon silently followed, leaving Qibli, Winter, Soar, and Hailstorm outside.

Winter sighed, then walked to the shaded garden along with the others. 

He started pacing in the garden, lost in thought, but he stopped after realizing he was damaging the garden. He resolved to sit and think, watching the doctor attend to Kinkajou through the window.

"This is a Rainwing, right?" Mayfly asked.

"Yes," Moon answered. "Her name is Kinkajou."

"Interesting. I thought she was an Icewing with the white scales," the doctor noted. 

"She's nothing like an Icewing," Hailstorm snarled through the window. 

"Get out of the window, Icewing! Stop blocking the light," Mayfly snarled, flapping her wings to shoo them backward. Winter got a glance at the frostbreath scars on her tail and what was left of one of her hind legs. Winter glumly realized that Mayfly might not like Icewings very much.

"Sorry, sorry," he yelped, pulling Hailstorm back towards the garden, yanking roughly on his older brother's tail.

He saw Qibli observing the terraced garden through the foliage.

"This is splendid. I've got to show Queen Thorn when I return," Qibli declared with a thoughtful expression. 

Hailstorm was growling. "Excuse me, why are we listening to a Mudwing?"

Winter was about to smile when Hailstorm continued. "They report to Skywings, not the other way around!"

Winter frowned.

"He's really confused isn't he?" Qibli asked.

"No shit, you moron," Winter growled in response.

"I can't imagine what it'd be like, to be a different dragon with different memories, different beliefs. I mean you tried the necklace on back at camp. By the looks of it, it sucked real bad," Qibli continued, ignoring Winter's insult.

"Oh, really?" Winter shot back. "How observant of you."

"Can you not give me this bratty attitude every two minutes? I'm fed up," Qibli snapped. "I'm trying to express sympathy here. Maybe that's too foreign a concept for your frozen hearts to understand."

"I don't want sympathy from a Sandwing," Hailstorm growled. Winter ignored what his brother said, and just buried his head in his talons, groaning.

After a few moments of silence and collecting his thoughts, Winter spoke again.

"Qibli. I'm really sorry about all of this, but I feel like shit right now. So, I have a favor to ask of you," he said.

"Go on," Qibli replied tentatively.

"I just want you to listen to me ramble all my thoughts out, then give me what you think," Winter continued. Qibli nodded.

"This whole thing sucks. I went to Jade Mountain with my sister, Icicle, with the expectation that we'd get to meet dragons from other tribes, but mostly just learn about them, and their weaknesses. What I wasn't expecting was to get caught up in all this NONSENSE!" Winter roared.

"My parents will never forgive me for even trying to make friends with dragons from other tribes. They'd be disappointed in me. On top of that, Icicle is in big trouble, and it feels like everything I've ever known is falling apart. I want to make my parents proud, but it feels like I'm doing everything in my power to make them disappointed. Now, I get my brother back, and he's not even himself. It feels like every single bloody thing I know is crumbling," Winter continued rambling.

"So, do pardon me for being a bit grumpy, but I have a lot on my mind. You mentioned how this city smelt of freedom. Well, I gave thought to it. It makes sense, but if I want freedom, I have to give up my relationship with my parents. My status, my position. Everything I've ever known. I can't just do that, but I want to. I feel split right now, just like you, Hailstorm. I don't know what to do," Winter said as tears fell to the dirt beneath. 

Hailstorm listened closely, and the more he heard, the less Pyrite scratched at his mind. He could organize his thoughts now, at least. Suppress Pyrite's thoughts, and bring forth more memories. Everything started to make more sense. He felt split, but it was due to outside factors. Hailstorm took a shaky breath.

_'My name is Hailstorm. You feel awful right now, but you just need to tough it through. The other thoughts will fade with time, and you will return to your rightful position. Just give it time, and it will sort itself out. In the meantime, it's just damage control,' _Hailstorm thought resolutely.

Qibli took a few moments to chew down everything Winter said before saying anything. "Winter. I'm sorry about getting mad at you, but I didn't know all of that. I'm not blaming you for being grumpy, just know that. Calm down, and collect your thoughts, then we can sort through your problems. Firstly, let go of things that already happened that you can't control, like Icicle's actions, and her punishment. You didn't play a hand in that, you're not responsible. Might it have occurred to you that your parents hold unrealistic expectations? Did they seriously believe you'd go to a school filled with dragons from all over the continent and not find at least one that was of your liking?"

Winter briefly thought of Moon's hauntingly beautiful green eyes, but he pushed the thought down, ashamed.

"It's probably easy for me to say, but I think you just need to let the natural course of things happen. Getting too attached to things you can't control isn't good for your mind. All I can say is take Hailstorm back to the Ice Kingdom and get him resituated. I think he'll be up to speed shortly, right Hailstorm?" Qibli advised.

Hailstorm looked confused for a second, then nodded. 

"I'll be fine. Just need more time," he said hoarsely, before clearing his throat.

Winter looked glumly at his talons. 

"I'm so weak," he grumbled, before feeling something warm wrapping around him. It was Qibli. Winter was tempted to shove his way out of hugging a Sandwing but decided to just ease into it. 

_What would my parents think?_

"Your parents are using you. Twisting you into believing that doing whatever it takes to make them proud is the best thing ever, even at the expense of yourself and other dragons. Don't you ever say you're weak, Winter. You're not weak for opening up about your problems. But, you know what makes one weak? Someone who twists his arms behind his back into doing and believing blindly. You can stand up to your parents and for what you believe in, what you want," Qibli suggested.

"I'll think about it, Qibli. Thanks," Winter whispered hoarsely.

Soar's heart warmed slightly, but it only ached his heart even more.

_'When can I meet my daughter? They said there was a Mudwing who rescued her from Scarlet's tyranny. Maybe she wants to be with him. Well, it's her life, I shouldn't just waltz in out of nowhere after effectively abandoning her. Just time will tell, I suppose.'_


	35. Cold Winds I

"Winter, I want to go home," Hailstorm croaked softly, his voice wavering and breaking.

Winter snapped his head towards Hailstorm, blinking in surprise. At this point in time, he wasn't sure whether to be excited or scared. He'd have a real chance of getting his brother back, of returning everything to normal. Winter shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

_'Nothing will ever be normal again. You're at a crossroads now. Choose wisely, and you just might survive,' _Winter grimly thought.

Winter slowly nodded to Hailstorm's plea, his mouth drying in nervousness. Moon stepped out of the clinic, and Winter shifted his attention away from Hailstorm, pushing his doubts down.

"Is Kinkajou alright?" Qibli asked.

"She has a broken forelimb and a concussion, along with mild bruising," Moon answered curtly. "She'll wake up in a few hours. The cast is already set, and while it'd take several weeks for her to heal fully, we can get moving again in just a few days when her concussion clears."

Everyone gave a short sigh of relief. Her injuries weren't as bad as the audible crack a few hours ago made it seem.

"Why don't you guys just use the scroll to fix all your problems?" Soar asked. "Like I'm really touched by all the bonding moments you guys are having, but wouldn't it just be easier?"

"It doesn't feel right to use animus magic to fix every single problem. You'd become too reliant, and perhaps too power-hungry. It's a slippery slope. 'Oh, we can fix Kinkajou. But look at that Mudwing soldier we saw earlier and how he suffers. Let's fix that too. Soon we're fixing everything with magic. It's unsettling," Qibli replied, waving his talons to help his point.

"Qibli makes a good point, as much as I hate to admit it," Winter continued. "On top of that, I read stories in the Icewing Kingdom, and sometimes I can't help but wonder if there's an easier way to go about it. Well, yes. But it wouldn't be as entertaining."

"No lecture needed. Just curious," Soar replied curtly.

_I should bring Hailstorm back. I have my reservations, but it's not right to keep him waiting any longer. He's waiting years for this. _

"Um..." Winter started, but trailed off into silence, trying to find the right words to express himself properly. "Hailstorm. He, uh, wants to return to the Ice Kingdom right now."

"You want to leave now?" Moon asked, bewildered. "What about Kinkajou?"

"I have to get him back to the Ice Kingdom. He won't be himself until he's home. It should heal his mind, I hope," Winter replied. "Plus, Kinkajou needs time to heal. I know she's waking up in a few hours, but she's going to be bedridden for a few days to sleep the concussion out. Just wait for me here. It'll only be a few days, and then we can get on with the prophecy. You know, I never thought I'd be saying this."

Winter gave a dry laugh, and Moon and Qibli managed to look concerned.

"Get back as soon as possible," Moon said. "We'll need your help."

"Not sure what help I'll be. I'm just a useless prince," Winter replied, quoting what his father said to him years ago. He shivered, feeling his brother's piercing gaze on the back of his head. "Let's go, Hailstorm. Let's go home."

Without another word, the two Icewings took off from the garden with a gust of cold wind, Hailstorm taking the lead. Winter admired the way his older brother's wings sparkled in the dimming sunlight. 

Winter couldn't help but smile at his brother when Hailstorm looked at Winter over his wings and grinned, the first happy expression Winter had seen from him all day.

He spared a glance back at the garden where the yellow and black dot was rapidly shrinking with distance. 

_'I still feel torn, but it felt strangely good to not push anyone away. To not ice over anything like I usually do. I can be who I want, do what I want. I just hope mother and father will understand. Well, they probably wouldn't. I can always talk them into it. I hope so, at least.'_

The sun was well below the horizon when Winter and Hailstorm decided to land and sleep for the evening, in the cooling sands of the northern stretch of the Sand Kingdom. Winter fell fast asleep with the smooth, cool feeling of his brother's scales. It felt like home, for now at least.

It was high noon the next day when the Great Ice Cliff finally came into view, an uninterrupted border that stretched as far the eye can see. Winter looked over at his brother, whose face was marred with confusion and bewilderment.

"Is there something you want to ask me, brother?"

"Is that a wall? Walls don't work. Dragons can fly," Hailstorm replied matter of factly. 

"You don't remember the Great Ice Cliff? I would have thought that our parents got that so into our heads that not even two years of brainwashing can take it away," Winter joked, before realizing he probably shouldn't have said that after seeing Hailstorm's unamused face.

"Sorry, sorry. It's one of the oldest animus gifts in Icewing History. The Gift of Defense; it stops dragons from other tribes from being able to enter without one of the rings from the Gift of Diplomacy," Winter rambled.

Hailstorm flared his wings, pausing his forward movement as the air buffetting against his wings ate his momentum. "What if it doesn't recognize me as an Icewing?!" he lamented, before growling and clenching his talons, getting his emotions and duality under control. 

"It won't kill you by driving a spear through you're heart. It knows you're Icewing, through and through. Everyone knows you're an Icewing. A proud prince, top of the rankings," Winter assured him.

Hailstorm nodded slowly as he swallowed his fear and forced himself to continue. As expected, the wall did nothing, and Hailstorm breathed a sigh of relief.

_'During the Great War, no tribes have dared send dragons into Icewing territory, knowing it'd be a massacre. The Great Ice Cliff. Carved by talon and touched with animus magic. Was it worth the sacrifice of one's soul and the time? No other tribe is adapted to the subzero freeze, so even if there wasn't a Great Ice Cliff, the defense wasn't needed. The harsh winter was all that was needed to stall an enemy's advances. What we need is something that helps Icewings overtake other tribes. If only we had animus dragons. We could have gotten territory, we could have saved lives. Hailstorm wouldn't have been some foolish Skywing. If it weren't for that moons-blasted Foeslayer, who stole Prince Arctic and forced the animus bloodline into the Nightwing tribe,' _Winter mused.

_'Maybe if the Icewing princess who gave the Gift of Defense had wiped out the Nightwings right then and there, things would be much-' _

Winter grimaced, slamming a wall of ice on his train of thought. The mere fact that he entertained the idea of a full-blown genocide shook him to his core. 

_'No. No.. Noooooo. No. You can not entertain such horrid thoughts, Winter. Get a grip. Think of the Nightwings struggling to rebuild in the Rainforest. How starved they were, living on that volcano. You were there, you moron! But, it begs a question. If they had animus magic, why didn't they use it? Were they too afraid? It doesn't matter. What matters is they didn't use animus magic to harm anyone, that you know of at least.'_

Winter and Hailstorm flew over the icy fields, lakes, cliffs, the snow-blanketed conifer forests, as the sky above grew from a pleasant shade of blue to a deep, rich purple as the day passed by and they flew further north, towards Queen Glacier's Palace. Winter's stomach rumbled with hunger, but he ignored it. They were so close, and he just wanted to get the trouble of dealing with his parents over with. 

Winter sighed. _'I'm going to need to make sure every single word I say is picture perfect.'_

Finally, in the evening, the lights atop the spires of Queen Glacier's palace came into view, appearing from beneath the horizon. The shimmering blue/green/silver of the lights bounced off the dark ocean and the ice below, creating a dazzling array of light. A galaxy of dimmer, yet equally colorful and luminous lights shone out of the 5 curved wings of the palace where the lower aristocrats lived, the training schools taught, and the ice sculptures stood.

"It's so beautiful. I'd forgotten how wonderful home was," Hailstorm breathed, eyes aflame with wonder and joy. Winter smiled warmly.

"Just wait till we're inside," he replied, chest swelling with pride and elation. The worry and nerves of meeting his parents again and explaining everything melted away as he gazed upon his brother. Winter was a dragonet again, not a four-year-old subadult. Now, it was just him and his older brother enjoying the sights and the feeling of the wind, without a single care in the world.

_'I wish I could show Moon the splendor of the Ice Kingdom,' _Winter thought, his insides twisting slightly as he envisioned his parents' furious gazes pinning him to the ground.

_'Fraternizing with Nightwings, now? I didn't know you could become more disappointing.'_

_'You're an absolute disgrace to this kingdom, and you dishonor your father and I, not to mention your position as a prince.'_

Winter and Hailstorm's talons slammed down into the packed snow and ice in front of the grand palace gates in unison, kicking up a flurry of snowflakes. Winter noted Hailstorm's reaction to the palace gates, the ice wings framing the massive gates, and the sculptures that formed a pathway. Technically, dragons could fly over the palace gates, but doing so was considered incredibly disrespectful, and therefore career suicide. Despite being royalty, Winter was technically still a visitor. He would formally still be at Jade Mountain Academy more than halfway across the continent. But enough about that.

Queen Glacier's astonishing palace was animus touched, something only the Icewings know. The Gift of Splendor. It was designed, planned, and enchanted by a pair of royal animus twins, who dedicated their whole life to the project. The walls would never melt, never collapse, never crack or suffer from an attack. The concept of a skyscraper would be used to describe the palace, but it only understated the sheer scope of it. Those existed outside the capital, stretching into the sky, scraping the sky. But the palace was on another level. It soared above the clouds. It wasn't a skyscraper, to say the least. Perhaps sky piercer would be more accurate. There were so many rooms on so many levels, that Winter, who'd lived there his whole life hadn't been to every part of the palace. Even his elder brother didn't have the privilege.

A guard stood afront the massive gate, his wings held at the perfect angle, feet planted squarely. A necklace of aluminum made of 5 concentric rings denoted him 5th circle.

_'A lowly position to be so near the palace,' _Winter mused.

Despite his perfect posture, his eyelids were dangerously close to falling shut, but he snapped to attention and stamped his spear twice when he noticed the two princes in front of him.

"Nephews of Queen Glacier. Permission to be granted entry?" Winter asked. Higher ranked Icewings would be introduced first, but Hailstorm wasn't even on the rankings anymore. Winter felt that was as accurate an introduction as could be done given current circumstances. The guard rubbed his eyes vigorously, before squinting his eyes at Hailstorm.

"Prince Hailstorm?" he asked, bewildered.

"That's me, I guess," Hailstorm replied.

"My apologies for questioning you, your majesty," the guard said, bowing. Winter noticed the guard couldn't hide how rattled he was, despite his best efforts. "Everyone thought you were dead. It is truly wonderful that you have returned, and I am honored to be the first to meet you," the guard continued.

"We need to report immediately to the queen. She'll want to be woken for this if she's not already awake," Winter said. Perhaps once in history, the Icewings would have to rely on daylight hours, but after the Gift of Light, many could, and did, stay up to study or train to climb the rankings. 

"Queen Glacier is overseeing a diplomatic mission with the Rainwings and Nightwings," the guard curtly replied. "Her brother, Prince Narwhal is overseeing domestic affairs at this moment. He is currently in the courtyard."

_'Our father,' _Winter winced internally. Hailstorm stamped nervously.

"Thank you. Also, stay awake," Winter remarked with a small nod, before pushing open the gates and going through, leaving a miffed guard behind.

_'Maybe I handled that interaction completely improperly. I was near the top of the Second Circle when I left for Jade Mountain with Icicle. Could it have slipped due to recent events? How low could it have gone? 6th circle was the lowest I ever was,' _Winter thought as doubt twisted his insides. Pushing down the thoughts, he continued forward rigidly, with purpose. He would occasionally glance around and observe the walls, where tiny snowflakes moved inside the ice, mimicking the weather outside. The Gift of Elegance. 

_'A rather wasteful use of magic. Completely impractical, though there were a few such examples of gifts that were against the Queen's wishes. The Gift of Subsistence, a trio of holes cut into the ice, magically enchanted to remain eternally, where the weakest and poorest Icewings could reach in and always pull out a seal to keep them alive. It only benefitted the most unfortunate, and in the Icewing Kingdom, if you can't hunt for yourself, you don't deserve to call yourself a dragon. But perhaps, it would be viewed favorably by the other tribes,' _Winter contemplated. _'The Mudwing in Possibility could use such a gift, contrary to the grasshoppers that passing dragons could give.'_

Winter slammed a wall of ice on his thoughts. _'Father will smell doubt radiating from you. Set your mind to the task at hand, and bear the consequences of your actions. Be strong, be vigilant, strike first.'_

A few more dragons did a second take as the duo made their way towards the central courtyard, the vast space where the two most important Icewing Gifts were located. The Gift of Light and the Gift of Order.

The Gift of Light was created by Frostbite, who spent years carving the ice that would form the basis of the enchantment. Every twig, branch, frost kissed leaf, carved with her own serrated claws. Winter had spent enough time outside the Ice Kingdom to realize how accurate the tree was. The enchantment gave the ice tree eternal life, and more importantly, the moon globes that grew on it year-round. Visitors to the palace would pick a moon globe, and a bud would appear instantly, where it'd mature into a new, fresh moon globe in just a few days.

To Winter's astonishment, Hailstorm approached the tree, and picked a globe. Did that mean his brother's memories were coming back? Visitors picking moon globes would have been a relatively minor thing to remember.

Winter picked a moon globe too, before turning his attention to all the dragons in the courtyard, who were staring at the brothers in shock. The quiet murmurs and conversations had died away, leaving the whistling of the wind the only sound present. Winter and Hailstorm made their way down the long winding path towards the Gift of Order. Standing afront the rankings was the imposing figure of their father, Prince Narwhal, his piercing gaze weighing Winter down.

Falling to a crouch, and flaring his wings in a show of respect and deference, Winter shut his eyes, trying to forget his father's glare as he bowed. Hailstorm did the same, although a bit slower and hesitant. Winter couldn't glean anything from his father's glare.

"So," Narwhal hissed, venom dripping from his voice, drawing out the two lettered word. "My two sons return. One I never thought would, and one I never hoped would."

Winter opened his eyes and looked up. The seven concentric circles of the dragonet rankings, the first of the two walls that made up the Gift of Order weighed down on Winter as he looked at the thousands of names scrawled on the wall. In dead last, his name and his sister's name. Winter's breathing sped up, as he fought to keep his composure. Every name in the Icewing Kingdom was listed here, enchanted so that the Queen and her closest advisors could move the names around as need be. Every single dragonet that hatched had their name scratched into the wall as soon as they had a name, and every single dragon that died had their names wiped. The queen and her advisors would move the names as seen fit according to the procedure and her own judgment. 

Winter was too stunned to talk, so his father filled the silence instead. "No dragon here thought you'd be alive, Hailstorm," Narwhal remarked dryly. "Congratulations on your unlikely survival. The queen would be pleased to welcome you back into her army."

"As for you, Winter," Narwhal continued. "There is no excuse for your actions. Perhaps you can redeem yourself from the reports. Attacking your own sister, leaving the school unannounced and without permission, traveling with a Nightwing. Leading dragons from other tribes to your sister so she could be imprisoned. Then abandoning her, leaving her at the mercy of the Nightwings. Disappearing into Phyrria without informing any qualified dragon. Fraternizing with dragons from other tribes. Gone for days on end, with no messages. No oversight. No explanation!" Narwhal snarled, his voice going up in volume as he droned on and on about Winter's mistakes. He took a heavy step towards Winter. 

"What were we supposed to do, or think? What was the queen supposed to do or think? To account for your actions in the rankings?" Narwhal continued, sweeping a wing towards the Dragonet Circles.

Winter stared at the floor in shame. 

"Father. Despite my absence in the rankings, can permission still be granted to speak?" Hailstorm said suddenly.

"Briefly," was all Narwhal said.

"Winter acted brashly and without foresight," Hailstorm started, picking his words carefully. "However, he did so to bring me home from imprisonment no dragon would have known to look for me. He's been brave and honorable, acting with care and consideration, and I am fully prepared to attest to that before her majesty." 

Winter knew his brother was hiding something, but Winter couldn't tell. 

"Come to my chambers, Hailstorm," Narwhal said. "We have much to discuss. Winter, go to your room. I will summon you shortly."

Winter stood rooted in the ice and snow, even as his brother and father left, even as all Icewings present vacated the courtyard, leaving him alone with the gathering snow clouds above, a harkening to a coming blizzard. His cousin, Princess Snowfall, and next in line for the throne was now top of the rankings. It was disheartening and certainly do well for her arrogance. Not that Winter cared, really. The name that followed was that of Lynx. She was the daughter of a minor noble, but she was incredibly determined and hardworking, but also scarily intelligent. Winter could see her being friends with Moon. They're both sweet dragons after all. 

Winter glanced at the adult circles. His parents were nearing the bottom of the Second Circle, meaning they could lose the privilege of living in the palace soon.

_'It's my fault. I could cost them the privilege of living in the palace. No wonder Father's so mad,' _Winter thought. Well, he thought. Truth be told, trying to read Narwhal was like trying to tell the age of an iceberg. You can't. He's the same whether he's proud or angry. Winter had hoped for a nod of approval, having brought Hailstorm home, but turns out even what he thought was a realistic hope turned out to be nothing more than a pipe dream. 

Winter dragged himself to his room, bowing to anyone and everyone. It wasn't hard to memorize the rankings when everyone was above him. Winter hoped that seeing his room would cheer him up, but he only got more depressed as it felt constricting, a contrast to the freedom he had elsewhere. Winter was truly tired and refusing to punish his body further, flying halfway across the continent from Possibility on just 5 hours of sleep in combination with recent events resulted in him passing out on the floor. The pain of his jaw hitting the hard ice floor was the last thing he registered before he fell into a dreamless sleep. 

Winter was awoken by the light shining through his eyelids. He thought his father would send a messenger to wake him up abruptly. He groaned and rolled over, and seeing his mother's piercing blue eyes drew a started yelp from him, as he sat up abruptly, slamming his right shoulder into a wall. Tundra frowned for a moment, more confused than disappointed. 

"The sun's been up for an hour," she said flatly. Winter took a few moments to collect himself.

"Hailstorm and I didn't sleep after I found him. We returned here with haste," Winter lied through his teeth. 

"Good. Never apologize. Sorry doesn't mean anything. Now, there is a ceremony in seven minutes in the courtyard," she said, walking to the doorway. 

"Oh, and thank you for bringing Hailstorm home."

Winter dared to smile as pride started building in his chest.

"It's the least you could do," she said before leaving Winter alone in his room again.

Winter started laughing. 

_Maybe I am being driven crazy. Heh, doesn't matter. I'll work as hard as possible to climb back up the rankings._

Winter made his way down to the courtyard. Every single dragon and dragonet stood at attention with neatly folded wings in perfect formation. At the end of the courtyard, Winter took his position as the lowest ranking dragonet present. Winter ignored the conversations of the newly hatched dragonets he stood next to, clamping down his shame to make sure no one could see or feel it.

Narwhal, Tundra, and Hailstorm took their positions at the front of the courtyard, facing the gathered lines. 

"Half a year ago, a dragonet was removed from the rankings due to reports from the Sky Kingdom that the Nightwings slaughtered all Icewing prisoners. He has now returned, Queen Glacier's nephew, my son. Therefore, he must be added back to the rankings. At the time of his capture, he was first in the rankings. However, he has been without oversight for 2 years, and by his own admission, acted traitorously and unbefitting of an Icewing. That is in addition to being caught by the Skywings. Thus, taking these factors into consideration, he will be slotted in the seventh circle. May he claw his way up through sheer determination and hard work," Narwhal announced, scratching Hailstorm's name at the bottom of the 7th circle, below even Icicle. Gasps and shock filled the courtyard. Not even the most hardened Icewings could hide their reaction. 

Winter winced. How would having three nearly adult dragonets in the seventh circle reflect on his parent's rankings. Would they have to leave the palace? At least no one could accuse Narwhal and Tundra of being biased.

A deep chill ran down Winter's spine. He'd nearly forgotten how old Hailstorm was. He'd be an adult in just two weeks! He'd be transferred to the adult rankings and shipped out to the outer reaches of the Ice Kingdom. Would he risk his life in the trials to jump his rankings?

_'Maybe I saved my brother just to doom him to a fate worse than being trapped as a Skywing,' _Winter glumly realized. 

As soon as the courtyard fell silent, Narwhal continued. 

"One more announcement. Another dragonet has been recently shifted to the bottom of the rankings after reports of improper actions and behavior. However, new light has been shed to contextualize his actions, ultimately showing he acted bravely and with intelligence that is befitting of what being an Icewing means. In conjunction with his action to return an Icewing, this dragonet will now be shifted to the top of the rankings. This is in spite of disobeying orders, but ultimately, the ends justify the means, and it will be reflected accordingly," he said, jabbing his talon into Winter's name at the bottom of the board, before moving it to the very top of the first circle, with a scraping sound and a shower of ice, the enchanted ice healing from the trail created by Narwhal's talons.

Winter could scarcely believe it. The balance of praise and criticism made him believe that he'd be moved up to the fourth, or even third circle. As he saw his name moving through the circles, his disbelief grew and grew, until Winter thought it couldn't get bigger as his name moved to the second circle. Of course, his name was moved right to the top of the Dragonet Circles, above even Snowfall's. Winter was floored. 

_'First place. Me. WHAT!' _Winter screamed mentally. The hundreds of eyes staring at him didn't do anything to make him move when his father said his name.

"Winter!" his father called, impatiently. Winter was knocked out of his stupor, and lifted off, almost joyous, as he flew to the front of the lines, passing by Hailstorm, who was flying to the back. Landing where Snowfall had awkwardly shuffled out of the way, Winter gave Snowfall a dazzling smile as he smugly took her spot. 

_'First place. Number one. I can take a moment to enjoy this, even if I'm not sure how I got here. What on Phyrria did Hailstorm even say to them?_

"As usual, the queen will review the new assignments upon her return later today. Further changes may be in order. But for now, these are your new rankings. Dismissed," Tundra said. 

The courtyard was instantly filled with chatter as scores of dragons came to congratulate Winter on his new ranking. Winter could only keep a stone face as he let everything happen around him. He only focused on what few dragons said to him. 

"Congratulations, Winter," Lynx said with a smile. "You must have had quite the adventure."

"I can't wait to hear the details," Snowfall hissed.

Everything else was a blur of praise, questions, advice, and opinions. 

_'Well, I did it. I'm number one. Now what. It's the dream of every Icewing dragonet to be here, yet I feel so empty. Is it because my two siblings are dead last? Should I return to Jade Mountain, or stain my reputation by going back to Moon and Qibli and Kinkajou, and get her prophecy sorted?' _Winter pondered. He really didn't know what to do or say now.

Hours later, Winter still remained in the courtyard, unsure of what to do. Only a few dragonets remained, his brother among them.

Winter approached his brother, unsure what to do or say. Snowfall watched the brothers carefully.

"Are you alright?" Winter asked. Hailstorm just bowed to him.

"Stop it, stand up right now," Winter hissed, unwilling to have his brother humiliate himself. "Do you feel better, I mean. Has your head cleared? Did the enchantment and its wretched memories wear off?"

"Yes. I remember everything now that I'm home," Hailstorm replied. Winter raised an eye ridge. Perhaps Hailstorm remembers how to be an Icewing, but not how to be Hailstorm. 

"What did you tell them?" Winter asked. 

"I told them the truth. What else would I tell them?" Hailstorm asked, offended.

"The truth... about everything. Everything I said or did?" Winter asked.

"If you mean your band of misfits, yes. I told them everything," Hailstorm spat, bitterness rising inside. "I know they'd raise your rankings, but I didn't expect them to raise it so high."

"Neither did I," Winter said.

"Shut up!" Hailstorm snarled, before falling silent and staring at the wall glumly. Winter knew exactly how Hailstorm felt. He thought he knew, at least. With his hatching day in just days. Hailstorm's life as an Icewing was pretty much set in stone, and it wasn't good. His life was basically ruined.

"This is so, so, so very interesting," Snowfall said, strutting towards them as faux sweetness dripped from her voice.

"Leave us alone, _cousin_," Winter hissed.

Snowfall laughed. "There isn't nearly enough distance between you and I for you to order me around. Besides, I won't be the only dragon to ask Hailstorm about the Diamond Trials, would I? Are you considering it, Hailstorm of the seventh circle?"

Neither Winter nor Hailstorm answered Snowfall, so she continued. "Well, I mean, if you succeed at that mythical challenge, you'll be slotted back to first place, and just like that," she said archly with a snap of her talons. "Your life will be back on track."

"You should do it, Hailstorm. It's the only way," Winter said, shaking his brother, who was staring at his talons.

"That's funny," Snowfall said. Winter turned to glare at her. "I didn't know you'd want your brother to undertake the challenge. Well, it makes sense, really. You forgot a crucial part of the challenge."

Winter searched his memories but came up blank, so he remained silent. 

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Have you forgotten the Diamond Trial must also be undertaken by the defending challenger, the current first rank holder? Which would be you, Winter. Ah, but worse yet, only one dragonet can survive. It's brother against brother. How tragic," Snowfall said with mock pity. 

Winter's eyes widened with realization. The cold ice of dread spread through his body. 

They knew exactly what they were doing. Snowfall was a formidable dragonet daughter of the queen, just months away from her hatching day, so for Hailstorm to challenge her would have been too risky. So they'd move another dragonet into her place for Hailstorm to defeat. He was expendable. Winter was expendable. Hailstorm was too valuable to throw away. 

Whatever happens, his parents would end up with a dragonet in first place, and a dead disgrace. Winter met his brother's gaze, sharp blue eyes against sharp blue eyes. A silent conversation.

_You wanted me to be your brother again. You wanted me to be a true Icewing. You wanted me home. _

_Here._

_I._

_Am. _


	36. Cold Winds II

"Prince Winter," a voice came, shaking Winter from his thoughts. He hastily snatched the ice slab from the messenger's hands. 

"Good luck, sir," she said, before bowing and leaving Winter's room.

_'The trials are scheduled for tomorrow evening. Great.'_

Winter didn't know what to do. 

_'Drop down the rankings? Not going to happen. Flee? Shameful, and it'd be a lose-lose for the whole family. It's do or die, now. Doesn't matter who wins. Our family is secured as long as one of us dies. Icicle is a whole different pile of snow. It's as Soar said. He probably ruined my family, along with me. I can't help but wonder what if Hailstorm was never enchanted. He would have died. It would have been a great pain to my family, but it'd mean Icicle and I would be at Jade Mountain, without a brother to find. Maybe I'd keep my position in the second circle, and after graduating, get on with my life. Now, I don't have a life,' _Winter thought. He couldn't help but laugh at his unfortunate situation, pushing all his pain into his laughter. It'd probably draw attention to him as his laughs echo around this section of the palace, but he didn't care, especially if he was going to die tomorrow. 

He swept out of the room and found Lynx. Winter asked to spar with her, to brush up his skills before his fight to the death with Hailstorm. The fighting helped push the thoughts of the future out of his head, as the sparring kept him grounded in the present. Right here, right now, with Lynx. They sparred until they could hardly move from exhaustion. 

As they were washing the blue blood off of each other in the waning daylight Queen Glacier's envoy to the Rainforest Kingdom was returning. Behind the queen flew two of the highest-ranked generals and Icicle in an iron collar. Winter shook his attention from the dragons going into the palace and turned his attention back to getting the blood from between Lynx's scales. 

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Lynx asked. "I know you're preparing for death. I could see it in your eyes all throughout our fight. You're desperate. "

Winter gave a heavy sigh.

"Icicle tried to kill dragons for Scarlet to try to save Hailstorm. I stopped her assassination attempt on Queen Glory, then I left with my 3 other dragons from my winglet for Possibility, where we were supposed to await the rest of the winglet to arrive. Bumped into the Talons of Peace, got in a small scuffle, tore off an enchanted necklace from a Skywing which then revealed Hailstorm. We come back, and now I'm in this situation. I know exactly what my parents are doing. It just hurts. I'm expendable. Everything I've thought or did or said or wanted or dreamed. It doesn't matter if my life ends tomorrow evening. It hurts so much inside, Lynx," Winter lamented, his eyes watering, as he looked at the snow below in shame. After a few moments of boiling, the floodgates finally broke and Winter sobbed into the snow below in front of Lynx.

"Wh-why do I care anymore. Why can't I accept m-my death? What do I say to my f-f-friends? I'm s-so weak! What do I do? Act like a-a-an Icewing warrior and just accept m-my death? I-I'm n-not an Icewing warrior! I'm just an I-Icewing who got hatched in the wr-wr-wrong family!" Winter stuttered through gritted teeth as he cried. 

Lynx watched with pity as Winter broke down in front of her, and she wasn't sure what she could do or say. To be fair, she did ask, so the least she could do was listen. She knew there was an ulterior motive for his parents to move him to the top of the rankings, but she couldn't quite put a claw on it. Well, now she knew. 

"Don't fret over things that are out of your control, that already happened. You'd feel much better if you let go, and move forward the best you can. If that means fighting Hailstorm and dying, then so be it. It's your duty now, as the highest-ranked of the Icewing dragonets to defend your title against your brother," she offered. Winter stopped crying and looked at her, bewilderment in his eyes. 

"You're probably thinking that I don't know how you feel, and you're completely right. But you'd spend your last hours miserable if you can't accept it and move forward," she continued.

Winter started laughing.

_'When am I not laughing these days,' _Winter thought.

"What's so funny? Is what I'm saying not making sense?" Lynx asked, befuddled at Winter's reaction.

"Oh, no, no. It's not you. It's just that it almost perfectly mirrors what another friend of mine said," Winter said, finally getting himself under control. 

"Really? Tell me about him or her," Lynx asked.

"He's a Sandwing named Qibli," Winter said, forgetting his troubles, instead of recalling his memories of the warm Sandwing. "I used to think he was so annoying, such a smartass, always correcting me and being sarcastic, but I realize now he's just that way. But he's always been friendly to me, even when I wasn't in return. Sometimes I wonder what I did to have the privilege of meeting him."

"Seems like leaving the Icewing Kingdom was worth it," Lynx remarked. Winter gave a sad smile.

"Yeah. I got to see the outside world at least once. Oh, you know the scavenger theories that I always ramble about?" Winter asked.

"Yeah. I still can't get your theories out of my head. Sometimes I wonder if you're actually right about those things," Lynx replied.

"Yeah, well while we were searching for Hailstorm, the Nightwing in my winglet, who can read minds and predict the future said she interacted with a scavenger. It had a name, can fully form thoughts, everything," Winter remarked casually.

"Wait, wait. Nightwings CAN read minds and see the future? I thought it was a myth!" Lynx asked, eyes wide.

"I thought it was a myth too, but according to Moon, she hatched under the moons, and their old home had no sky access, so the Nightwings didn't have a seer or mindreader in centuries," Winter answered.

"Come, let's go back to the palace. I'll tell you everything," Winter said, before turning towards the palace.

"Hey, hey, slow down. Finish cleaning my scales first," Lynx grinned.

Winter rolled his eyes before setting about the task, chatting away, worries momentarily forgotten.

The next day flew by quickly, Winter taking the advice from both Lynx and Qibli to heart, enjoying his day, and pushing his worries to the back of his head. It was pointless to worry about the inevitable. Now, it was late in the afternoon, and 12 dragons were assembled in the courtyard to prepare for the flight to the Diamond Caves, where the trial will occur. 

"Prince Winter," Queen Glacier said. Winter bowed as deeply and as passionately as he could. The Icewing Queen was huge and majestic, far more imposing than even Queen Glory, who despite just barely scraping into adulthood, commanded respect with her presence.

"You served the tribe well, returning Prince Hailstorm to the tribe," she said with a respectful nod of her head. "I wish you luck in the trial."

"Thank you, your majesty," Winter said, a bit uncomfortable. 

"You will fly alongside me on the way to the caves. I wish to hear everything that happened since you left Jade Mountain," she said. "I've heard your sister's testimony, but I suspect another perspective would be necessary."

"Of course, your majesty," Winter said. "If I may inquire, what is my sister's fate?"

"Good question, young prince," Glacier said. Winter swallowed, nervous. "Queen Glory is... not like other queens, to say the least. The generals and I expected she would demand Icicle's execution, but she said she would let me decide the punishment in exchange for something unusual. A cutting from our moon globe tree. How she even knows about it is beyond me."

"What does that mean?" Winter asked.

"I think she wants the Gift of Light in the Rainforest," Glacier answered. "I'm not sure if her tribes will like her response, but it partly depends on what punishment I decide for Icicle."

Winter spared one last look at Lynx, who was there to send him off. The dragons lifted off and started the journey to the tip of the continent, where the Diamond Caves were located.

Winter told the queen almost everything. He left out the name of the Skywing who enchanted Hailstorm, respecting his wishes for a quiet life, as well as Moon's powers, and his relationship with his friends.

"Here we are," Queen Glacier announced. At the base of a massive ice cliff topped with pines like the spines on an Icewing's head lay a cave, ice covering every last inch until it blended with the darkness as the fading evening light failed to go further. 

"Prince Winter, and Prince Hailstorm. Your task is simple," the queen said briskly.

"Enter the Diamond Caves, until you find a frozen dragon by the chasm, and touch the ice with one of these spears," the queen continued, motioning for the guards to give the diamond-tipped spears to the brothers, one apiece.

"Whoever returns takes or remains the top of the rankings. The other, we bid farewell," the queen finished.

"Remember, sons. Be strong, be vigilant, strike first," Narwhal said. 

"Restore honor to our family," Tundra added. 

The two brothers nodded grimly, and without another word, turned and entered the cave.

_'This is probably the last time I'll see the queen. The last time I'll see the sky. The last time I'll see my parents. I'll never see my friends again,' _Winter soberly realized, taking one last look at the sky before the turn of the cave shielded it from his view.

The Diamond Caves were an underground labyrinth, miles, and miles of blue-clear ice reflecting the occasional moon globe hanging off the ceiling to provide light. There was only a single exit, and one had to die. In some places, the dragonets had to crouch to fit, other times, they latched their serrated claws into the ice, and walked on the walls to the other side of massive dark caverns. 

For hours, they wandered. Winter started to wonder if it was really a survival exercise to see who can stay alive longer down in the caves. Suddenly, the feeling of crampedness left as the brothers entered a massive cavern, a ravine cutting through the middle of it. Winter raised his moon globe, and he had to clamp his snout shut to prevent a shriek from escaping him.

On the other side of the ravine, lay scores and scores of frozen dragons. Some wore joyous expressions. Others were snarling, wings and claws outstretched, died while fighting.

Winter was still wondering which dragon was to be tapped with the spears when Hailstorm leaped forth and stabbed his spear into a giant block of ice. The sounds of ice cracking were like thunder in the quiet cavern. The shards hit the ground, as Winter started running through scenarios in his head. He realized with horror that it wasn't a dragon made of ice, but a dragon trapped inside the ice.

As the ice fell off like armor after a battle, scales as dark as the moonless night were revealed. 

This was a Nightwing. Winter and Hailstorm would be fighting a Nightwing. 

_'Three moons.'_

A pair of silver shackles wrapped around her ankles, but they didn't seem to be connected to anything.

With a hiss, the dragon turned full circle, before dropping the full weight of her glare on the two brothers. 

"Oh, great. More Icewing dragonets with spears," she growled hoarsely. 

"I'm here to kill you," Hailstorm announced, without a hint of insecurity in his voice.

"That's what they all say," she replied dryly. "Now then, shall we introduce ourselves?"

"I'm Prince Winter, and this is my brother, Prince Hailstorm," Winter said after a short awkward pause, realizing the Nightwing was waiting for them to go first.

"Brothers. How devastating. I'd want to know the story behind that. Someday at least. Well, since you lot so graciously went first, I suppose it's my turn. Welcome to my prison. I'm Foeslayer."

Winter staggered back. 

_'Foeslayer? It can't be! The same Foeslayer that stole Prince Arctic, the last of the Icewing animi?! The mother of Darkstalker?'_

"It would seem you've heard of me. I'm honored," Foeslayer said with an amused grin. 

"That's-you're-what-how-you don't mean-" Winter stuttered, unable to string together a coherent sentence.

"Yes, I'm your ancient and terrible archnemesis. Everyone's always so surprised. I thought she'd tell the whole tribe, then they'd take turns killing me, but I guess not. Your next line is 'How are you still alive after all this time?'"

"How are you al-" Winter paused. "What? How?"

"Don't tell me how long it's been. I don't want to know. I'll never see them anyways. It's part of the enchantment. I'm frozen in time, only aging when I'm out like this. The plan is to keep me for a very, very long time. Winter was aghast.

"The gift of vengeance," Winter thought out loud. 

"Indeed," she said. "My mother in law and I have a complicated relationship, to p-" 

Hailstorm shot into action, nothing but the sound of his claws on ice announcing his movement. He shot forward, putting all his energy into his first attack, spear held in front of him for a devastating charge. Foeslayer stopped talking and narrowed her eyes, then with perfect timing, sidestepped, and pushed Hailstorm off course, before wrapping her arm around the base of Hailstorm's neck performing a chokehold. At the same time, she stamped on his thrashing tail. It was only with great difficulty that Hailstorm got out of the chokehold, his tail starting to bruise, and his face blue. He saw Foeslayer reaching for the spear, and attacked. Foeslayer expertly dodged, before slamming Hailstorm in the side with the blunt side, knocking him into a wall with a shower of ice shards. With a sonorous roar, Hailstorm was on Foeslayer's back in the blink of an eye, digging his serrated talons into her back, then yanking up as if trying to rip out her spine like lifting a seal out of a breathing hole. Red blood splattered everywhere as she shrieked in agony and pain, before pushing off, and landing on Hailstorm heavily, knocking out his breath, his ribs heavily bruised already. She was up in an instant, and dove for his underbelly, eager to claw out his innards. Winter threw himself at her without second thought, his mass knocking her away from his brother. 

"You fucking idiot!" she roared. "Don't you want to win? Have they been bashing your heads as dragonets?!"

"It's not winning if I lose my brother!" Winter roared in response. "I don't want to win if Hailstorm dies."

Winter turned to Hailstorm, who was standing up, his sides heaving as he panted, blood from two dragons dripping down his body.

"What are we fighting for, brother?" Winter asked rhetorically. "A number on a wall? Your life is more important to me than rankings, Hailstorm!"

"I might have said the same thing years ago, Winter," Hailstorm said. 

"But I've sacrificed myself for you once already. I threw away two years of my life, enchanted to be a FUCKING Skywing. Her memories still claw at my head. I killed Icewings as her. You can't begin to imagine how FUCKING awful it feels. I want MY life back. I want MY ranking back. I want MYSELF back!" he roared with fury. 

"I didn't think I'd have to kill you for it, but it was you who should have died that day. So you pay for it now. It's the only way," Hailstorm said.

Winter was shocked. He turned to Foeslayer again, who was nursing her back wound.

"Is there another way?" he asked her, his voice breaking with desperation. Foeslayer just shrugged unhelpfully.

"You die, or I do, brother," Hailstorm said, sorrow and regret in his eyes.

"Someone kill me already, it's getting too sappy in here," Foeslayer whined. "Well, I'm joking. I hope you know that. But please, kill me. Every waking moment is pain, and dying again doesn't sound too bad."

"Again?" Winter asked.

"Oh, yes. One of you stabs me, I die painfully, go back to being frozen, then someone wakes me up to kill me again. The first forty times, Diamond killed me in all sorts of creative ways. I guess she wasn't happy killing me just once. But, the forty-first time, there were two dragonets here, so I figured you guys found a good way to use me," Foeslayer chuckled bitterly. 

"It's my punishment."

"So the other dragons are frozen by chance?" Winter asked, wondering if it truly was a 50/50.

"You kill her, Winter," Hailstorm said.

"No, Hailstorm, please," Winter pleaded. "I've been waiting two years to make it up to you."

"What? Winter-" Hailstorm started but was cut off by Winter.

"It's what father and mother would have wanted. It's my turn to die for you now. Go live a good life for my sake. Keep the tribes at peace, and maybe tell my friends, sometime in the future. Kill Foeslayer and get on with your life. Please!" Winter pleaded, tears spilling out of his eyes.

Hailstorm nodded grimly, then picked up the spear. Foeslayer helpfully positioned it over the center of her chest, then shut her eyes. Winter shut his eyes too, preparing for the end. 

_'Life is a journey, as many have said, and part of the journey is the end. Everything is going to work out the way it's supposed to. I love you, brother.'_

Winter waited and waited, but nothing happened, even long after he heard the ice creeping up Foeslayer.

But it didn't happen. Nothing happened at all. 

Winter opened his eyes cautiously, and peered at Foeslayer's frozen form, before seeing Hailstorm sat at the edge of the ravine.

"Why didn't' it work?" Winter asked. "Why am I not frozen?"

"Astute observation. That's because it's not part of the original enchantment," Hailstorm said.

"It's these that do the freezing," Hailstorm said, lifting a spear, and observing it. "That's what-that's what I'm supposed to do to you."

Winter stood silent.

"Mother and father told me that no matter who killed Foeslayer, I was the one to win. I was to take this spear and drive it through your beating heart, freezing you and letting me take back my position," Hailstorm said.

_'So that's what they do. They tell the one slated to win the secret,' _Winter thought. 

"I'm not even surprised, Hailstorm. Come then, claim your victory," Winter said, talons up in surrender as he closed his eyes again, bitterly thinking about his friends in his last moments.

"You know I can't, Winter," Hailstorm said. "You're the one who rescued me and brought me home. I'm not going to murder you now. You do it to me," Hailstorm continued, laying down his spear too. 

The two stared at each other for a while, thinking. Finally, Winter spoke.

"If we can't kill each other, then you go. Leave, and claim victory. I'll sneak out later. We'll both live," Winter said. 

Hailstorm shook his head. "It won't work."

"I'm not done yet, brother. I'm not going to return. I'm not going to return to the Ice Kingdom. I'll renounce my royal status. It is as Qibli said. You were there. I don't want to live in the Ice Kingdom anymore. I'm not meant to be here. I want to be free," Winter said, before looking down at his talons, really thinking through what he just said. It came much easier than expected. It sounded impossible, to throw his life away, but when faced with death, it paled in comparison. 

"I don't want my life to be about just being a prince, yet being at every whim of mother and father," Winter continued. He believed in the superiority and perfection of the Ice Kingdom. Could he find his way outside the Ice Kingdom? 

_'Why am I even asking this? I know the answer.'_

Hailstorm thought for a moment. He then stood up and picked up his diamond spear. A bolt of fear shot through Winter, fearing his brother changed his mind.

But Hailstorm just bowed and stepped backward.

"Thank you, brother. I-I hope one day I'll see you again," Hailstorm said triumph, gratitude, and sorrow blended into his broken words. 

"Remember, Hailstorm. I'm dead to the tribe, an ice sculpture to them. But I'll always be in your heart," Winter replied. 

Hailstorm fled through the hole they came through, and Winter sat in the cavern for a long time, thinking. 

After he knew the time was right, he stood up and tapped Foeslayer's ice sculpture again.

Sonorus cracks filled the cavern once more, and as Foeslayer opened her eyes, surprise flitted across her face.

"This is a first, but don't you think it's a bit over the top? I didn't think you Icewings were so bloodthirsty," she said. 

"Listen, I don't think you realized how much you took from our tribe when you took our animus magic. Imagine what our kingdom would have done if we had another two millennia of the animus lineage, what we could have invented," Winter said.

"I don't think your tribe would have been content to stay in the far north. Has it ever occurred to you that your perfect tribe may have used the magic for evil as well as good? Look what your queens did to me!" she snarled.

Winter was taken aback, but he shook his doubts.

"When you stole Prince Arctic, you stole all of our future gifts. You stole everything we could have become," Winter continued. "I can understand why some dragons view that as unforgivable. But this-this torture, keeping you in an endless cycle of life and death is horrid. It's a miracle that you haven't gone insane. I was thinking-I feel perhaps you've suffered enough."

A few moments of silence sat between the two. Foeslayer drew her wings over herself, hiding her face and body. Winter was confused momentarily, but when he heard wet drips and quiet sobbing, his confusion was replaced with shock. He walked up to her and lay a comforting talon on her back, where just hours, Hailstorm had dug his talons in to rip out her spine. Foeslayer shuddered but did nothing.

Foeslayer lowered her wings, and Winter could see that her eyes were red from crying. 

"I didn't steal him," she said, voice breaking. 

"What? You didn't steal Prince Arctic?" Winter asked.

"I didn't steal him. I loved him, and he loved me. We had two beautiful dragonets, but all that is gone," she managed to get out, before bursting into tears again.

Everything Winter had been taught up to this point was quaking and on the verge of shattering. The history of the tribe, the source of animosity between the Icewings and Nightwings, everything. 

"It's the truth, but no one survived or let me live long enough to tell it. We didn't mean to ruin everything, to start a terrible war. We just wanted to be together," she continued after collecting herself. "So now you know. Are you ready yet? Come claim your prize."

Winter shook his head, then started laughing. "How come you haven't noticed I'm planning to get you out. Did nothing I do or say give you a hint?"

Foeslayer looked confused for a second, but she started at the ground again. 

"Nothing works. These shackles are indestructible. I've tried everything," she admitted.

"Perhaps, but I know Icewings are careful planners. Diamond most likely left a way to free you, perhaps as something to negotiate with the Nightwings," Winter mused, examining the shackles. "If anything will break them, it's going to be someone of royal blood, and lucky for you, I happen to fit the description."

He picked up a spear. "Hold still."

Foeslayer stopped pacing and braced as Winter shoved the tip of the spear against the shackle with as much might as possible. It bounced off with a loud ringing sound. 

"Well, that's disappointing," Foeslayer said.

Winter poked the shackles with his claws, but nothing happened.

"Well, there's one last thing I can try, but if it doesn't work, then I'm sorry," Winter said, holding the shackle up, forcing Foeslayer to stand awkwardly. Calling up the cold winds inside, he exhaled a bolt of frostbreath on the shackle. It covered it rapidly, and Winter just looked at it. 

He was about to admit defeat, when Foeslayer lowered her leg, despite Winter still holding it. All hope left her, as she realized she'd probably be stuck here forever, but the sound of something shattering reached her ears just after she made that conclusion. She snapped to attention, glaring at her ankle. No more shackles.

"Well, looks like royal frostbreath makes it brittle enough to break. Let's get the other one," Winter said with a smile, observing the disbelief and hope on her face.

"Wait. Before I break this one, I need you to make me a promise. You won't hurt any Icewings. I don't want another cycle of war and conflict to start. Do you understand? It ends here," he commanded.

"Oh, believe me. I never want to see a snowflake again. Set me free, and I'm going straight home to the Night Kingdom," she replied.

Winter thought for a moment, before realizing she could be the key to getting to the Night Kingdom from Moon's prophecy. "Actually, I'm coming with you," he said with a smile, before exhaling frostbreath on the last shackle, then shattering it with a flex of his talons.

"You're free now," Winter said. Foeslayer sat in disbelief for a moment, before crushing Winter in a bear hug, tears streaming down her face. 

"Before going to the Night Kingdom, I actually have to go to Possibility. My friends are waiting for me there. But we can't fly the shortest route there since it'd cross over the Great Ice Wall from where we're at. We'll have to fly south over the Dragon's Mouth Bay before we can cut across the desert to Possibility," Winter managed out as best he could in Foeslayer's crushing hug.

"Yes, yes. I just want to go. Come on now, Foeslayer said, before bounding across the ravine, and squeezing into the crevice Winter and Hailstorm came from. He hurried after her, and after a while looping around the Diamond Caves, they left and flew across the ocean, headed towards a small mountain range that lay across the bay that would mark Sandwing territory. From there, they could turn East and fly straight to Possibility. 

Winter pushed his body to his absolute limits flying across the bay, as did Foeslayer. Winter felt joy and liberation as he flew over the sea, and Foeslayer's unbridled joy and elation at freedom after two thousand years was quite infectious. 

The faster they were out of Icewing territory, the better. Landing roughly in the hilly region one that was largely uninhabited, Winter was naturally surprised to see a singular wooden hut stand in a clearing of the meager forests in the area. 

He and Foeslayer went to have a look since they were taking a break and hunting before continuing on their way to Possibility. Winter knocked on the poorly made door.

A cacophony of things falling and some yelping followed. "Who's there!" a voice yelled.

"We're just visitors," Foeslayer said.

Winter prayed it wasn't an Icewing, but of all dragons to open the door, it was a Skywing. He stood quite a bit taller than Winter, but he was around Hailstorm's size.

"What brings you two by my hut?" he asked.

"We're just on our way somewhere else, taking a break here. It's been a long flight for us," Winter said in a friendly voice. 

"I don't have much to share," the red dragon said. 

"Oh, don't worry about that. We ate already. We're just looking for a place to rest our talons and wings a bit," Foeslayer said, ignoring the hunger clawing at her stomach. She'd been starving for centuries, she could manage a few hours. Winter had his fill of fish from the sea.

"Well, come in then. Banishment does get quite lonely," the dragon said.

"Banishment? What'd you do?" Winter asked, bewildered.

"Oh, Ruby wanted me to stay in her army for killing Scarlet, but none of her soldiers liked the fact that I can do this," he said, before flinging a bit of crackling electricity towards the metal he was working on.

"You're the Skywing who has lightning powers!" Winter breathed out, astonished. 

"Unfortunately," he grumbled, turning back towards the pile of metal, trying to figure something out. "How'd you know?"

"Queen Glory told me," Winter replied. 

"What is an ice dragon like you doing in the rainforest?" He asked.

"I have a name, you know," Winter said, a bit annoyed. 

"Well, so do I, but you didn't ask for it," the red dragon replied.

"Well, yes. Ugh," Winter said a bit flustered. "I'm Winter," he said, debating whether or not he should throw the word prince in front.

"Much better. Best mind your manners, Winter. Anyways, I'm Jason. A former soldier in the Skywing army and Roman Praetor," Jason said. 

"Did the world change so much that Roman Praetor is a thing now?" Foeslayer asked.

Winter flashed back to what Moon told them that day in the rainforest. Jason was formerly a scavenger, and possessed powers no scavenger or dragon would usually have. 

"I'm told you're the son of the Sky," Winter said.

"Isn't that implied in his tribe's name, the _Skywings_?" Foeslayer asked.

"Well, yes. But Moon said that with Jason and a few of his friends that it's different. Piper and Nico told her everything," Winter answered.

"Wait, Piper?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. My winglet met her and Nico in the rainforest. I'm pretty sure they went to Jade Mountain to find you and 'the others', but I'm not sure if they're there anymore. It's been almost a week. They could be anywhere," Winter said.

"You're probably right. I'll never find them," he said, defeated.

"You give up so easy," Foeslayer said. 

'Hey, don't rub it in. Banishment hurts enough already," Jason replied, smoke starting to rise from his nostrils. 

The trio sat in silence as Jason hammered away at a pile of metal until Winter and Foeslayer felt rested enough to finish the last leg of their journey to Possibility.

_Moon, Kinkajou, Qibli... I'm coming. Wait for me, I'll be there soon. _


	37. Return to Jade Mountain

To say recent events were a tossup for Peril would be a massive understatement. She groaned as she tried to stretch out the sleep from her limbs. Well, more precisely, the pain from her body. One night's sleep wasn't nearly enough for the firescales Skywing to recover from her injuries. 

First, there was the attempted assassination of Icicle by Sora, which, for an assassination, boasted impressive collateral damage, resulting in the deaths of two innocent bystanders, Carnelian and Bigtail. Peril tried saving them, but either the burns marring their scales were too severe, or her own attempts to save them from their doom only sealed it. Atop the soreness and bruising that marred her body, the weight of guilt sat heavily on her as if the soreness and bruising weren't enough to keep her on the ground. Peril questioned if her actions during that time, with perfect hindsight. Even if she did do the right thing, the students of the academy didn't see that, only shunning her. Turns out they weren't the only ones.

Queen Ruby arrived with a small entourage to oversee the final days of Carnelian's rest atop the sheer cliffs on the Eastern faces of Jade Mountain, then bring her home for a proper Skywing burial. Peril only found out about the tradition recently, her dragonethood under ex-Queen Scarlet strictly forbade her from reading scrolls, not that she could. But other dragons could read to her, and the only dragon that did so was murdered in public by Scarlet, and as a result, Peril only has a rudimentary knowledge of the structure of Skywing governance, nothing more. Turns out there were more to Skywings than just the Champion's Shield, which Peril used to defend her mother, who would only turn up dead on a rocky pillar in the Sea Kingdom. Ranging from animi and firescales dragonets being flung from sheer cliffs before they could fly out of fear to the process of burial for a Skywing; they'd be left on a mountaintop for a full week, with the hopes that their soul would reincarnate as a Skywing, seeing as their spirit would fly free. Peril felt like even dead dragons were better off than her. Though she was alive, her spirit wasn't free. Sure, she could do what she wants to do, and no one could do anything, but that's not the exact definition of freedom. She was still wrapped in the chains of preconception and fear. Clay helped her so much in that regard; Peril wasn't sure she could ever repay him. Clay was the only dragon to do interact with her in any meaningful way. He saw past her fiery exterior. He saw the broken dragon inside too. She was willing to do anything for him. Sometimes that meant attacking dragons, which turned out to be the wrong action. Clay even asked her not to, but she didn't listen.

Peril clenched her talons in frustration, her hindsight perfect. 

Scarlet showed up at the academy, having heard about Ruby's arrival. She threw Glory's decapitated head at the crowd of dragons formed by the Jade Mountain staff who were trying to rectify the situation with the Skywings. Turns out the head was an animus enchantment, which was a relief to many, including Peril. Glory was a fun dragon to talk to, sharing the same dry sense of humor. For both dragons, it was a coping mechanism to endure dragonethood. Peril was afraid that the last time she saw Glory truly was the last time when she saw Glory's supposed head in Scarlet's talons. Thankfully, it wasn't, and the guards went off to kill Scarlet, lethal force having been authorized by the Skywing Queen. After that, the Skywing entourage would meet Queen Moorhen to identify the head. But, what the entourage did wasn't a concern to Peril. Peril stayed behind, with Clay and Sunny as they recovered from the shock of the animus enchantment. Her heart was pounding at the time, and she immediately became hostile with the secretive newcomers. Peril knew no dragon could harm her in any meaningful way, so in a moment of haziness and hostility, Peril challenged the Seawing to a fight, one which she was so confident she would win. To say she made a mistake challenging the Seawing was putting it lightly.

She was humiliated thoroughly in full view of dozens of dragons by the Seawing. Her ability robbed her of any need to learn how to fight beyond just grabbing your opponents and grilling them to a crisp, and when a dragon who could keep the fight at a distance appeared, she was out of her element. He taunted her, called her names, and when she thought she had him, she was punched by water. 

_'Water!?!!'_

If sheer fury could win fights, Peril would have won, but that's not how life works. In the end, she woke up in pain in the infirmary. 

"Ugh, what happened?" she groaned in pain, holding her throbbing head. 

"You fought a Seawing who wasn't even looking for a fight," Clay told her, looking her in the eyes. Peril could see the disappointment, so she averted her gaze.

"I'm sorry, Clay," Peril muttered, shame gnawing at her insides.

"Just don't do that again, Peril. You're lucky he beat you, otherwise you would have burned him to a crisp. Then I'd really be mad. You're above killing dragons now," Clay said. "I talked to the Seawing after. His name's Percy. It's weird, but he's nice, and so is his companion. They're just a bit lost, probably isolated during the war. If only you'd talked to them," Clay continued.

Peril grew defensive. "I, well, you and Sunny too. We were in shock and confused. Look, you've known Glory for longer, but I didn't want to find out that Scarlet killed a friend of mine. I wasn't thinking straight, but you probably know that. I was scared, believe or not," she muttered.

"I know. So was I. But we have to give every dragon a chance to prove themselves something different than what we thought they are. You came so far only because some dragon was willing to give you a chance. It's only fair others get the same chance," Clay said.

Peril only nodded. A calm silence befell them, content with just the presence of the other. After a while, Peril spoke.

"Did I break anything during the fight?" Peril asked.

"Well, besides a concussion and a lot of bruising, you're completely fine," Clay said.

Peril raised an eye ridge. "How would a doctor be able to figure out it's not anything more? No one can touch me without burning, and you're not a doctor," she asked.

"Oh. I did the examination, she just told me what to do, since I can't be burned by you. Nothing was broken, and the concussion is assumed since you got knocked out," Clay said. "I hope it's okay with you. I know you're not really a touchy-feely dragon."

Peril knew if it weren't for her bright burning copper scales, Clay would see her blushing furiously, but he didn't notice.

The rest of the conversation was a blur. That was the evening after her fight with Percy. She remembered the dopey Seawing she was talking to before she wound up fighting Percy not even an hour later. 

_'Turtle, I think.'_

Talk about perfect timing, because the very same dragon walked into her sleeping cave. The sudden green and blue intrusion drew her attention much better than the dull gray cave walls.

"Turtle? What are you doing here?" Peril asked, hardly moving from her prone position.

"Ah, Peril. I've spent quite a while searching for you. I don't know why I'm telling you first, and not the teachers, but I'm going to leave school for a while and try to find the rest of my winglet. Figured you probably want to come too, since you'd probably want a little time away from all the recent events," Turtle replied.

Peril blinked. She then blinked again, processing his words.

She _was _wanting to blow off steam. She didn't get to stick it to Scarlet for ruining her dragonet hood. Some Skywing soldiers got that honor, and even Ruby had her qualms with him for some reason. Maybe she did need a little fresh air to clear her mind and physically distance herself from all the happenings. 

"Perhaps the cave air is driving me crazy, but I'll take you up on the offer," Peril said. "We can go as soon as I don't feel like a pile of rocks."

Turtle responded by dropping a small rock in front of her. "Rub it on your scales. It'll make you feel better," he said.

"How does that work?" Peril asked.

"Seawing scholars have theorized about an effect known as the placebo. In essence, if one believes something is working, it will," Turtle said.

"Fascinating. So if I just rub it over my scales, I'll feel better if I just believe it?" she asked, observing the rock in her talons, turning it over as if she was looking for a spider.

"Yep. Give it a go, just believe it's going to work, and it'll work," Turtle said, a warm smile on his face.

Peril obliged, and ran the rock along her throbbing forehead, thinking as hard as she could that the rock will melt her pain away and mend her injuries. Surprisingly enough, her headache melted into a dull throbbing. Ecstatic, she quickly ran it along her shoulder and limbs, almost moaning in pleasure as the throbbing pain that tortured her so melted. 

"Wow, this rock is magical. But even if I believe my injuries are gone, and my body responds as such, can we push our departure back to tomorrow, right? Just to make sure," Peril said.

Turtle nodded. 

"Does tomorrow morning sound good?" Turtle asked.

"Sure," Peril said, unable to hide her excitement at being pain-free and taking a little time off to explore and be away from her problems.

So, here she was, flying over the Claws of the Clouds Mountain range with a Seawing who had the same flight stamina as a 3-month-old Skywing. 

"We're going to be going to Possibility, Turtle said before they lifted off. Peril wanted to ask why, but knowing Turtle, he had his reasons for everything, and she didn't need unnecessary information cluttering her brain. She informed Clay that she was going to go on a little trip to clear her head, and Clay wished her well, before turning back to the never-ending job of managing a school, especially with recent events. 

Turtle asked her if she knew any stories from her tribe. She shook her head. So he started talking about one of the Skywing stories he read about, and Peril was certainly encapsulated by the history of her tribe according to the legend. Pretty soon, the conversation drifted to Seawing legends, and it was how Peril found out Turtle liked writing, following in the footsteps of his mother, who despite her queenly duties, spent most of her time crafting stories for the rest of her tribe to read. 

They landed in the plains on the other side of the mountain range for Turtle's regularly scheduled rest break, much to Peril's frustration. This was his third rest break so far, and Peril could have flown to Possibility all by herself by now if she wanted to. It was kind of infuriating that she would betray herself by daring to enjoy Turtle's company. She grumbled and sat on a flat rock overlooking the river where Turtle was currently resting in. She saw him rolling the rock over his shoulders that he gave her yesterday. 

_'This placebo stuff is magic. It's a miracle what self-belief can do,' _she remarked internally, watching Turtle lounge in the river as she basked in the sun, her body heat bending the air around her. 

Turtle was vibing underwater when he saw a mysterious Seawing swim up to him. He backed up a bit, but the dragon waved and smiled, then flashed his scales in aquatic.

_Don't warn your friend up there. I want to practice my sneak attacks, _the Seawing said.

Turtle thought for a second, then figured it couldn't hurt. He could watch.

_Go ahead, she's all yours, _Turtle flashed back.

Peril's screech of fury when she found out Turtle was in on the plot was priceless. The new Seawing was Squid, and with him, came the rest of the Talons of Peace in the area. 

"Squid!" a new voice called. 

Squid rolled his eyes and gave a huge sigh.

"Yes, Riptide?" Squid grumbled.

"Stop bothering strangers, and let me talk to them first. How many times do I need to say that to get it through your thick skull? I haven't even punished you for jumping those dragonets from Jade Mountain," Riptide said. "Okay, with that aside, please excuse the uncouth behavior of this slimy little dragonet. Let's pretend that never happened. I'm Riptide, leader of the Talons of Peace."

"Riptide. What a pleasure," Turtle said, shaking his talons. "I'm Turtle, and also a student at Jade Mountain Academy."

Riptide raised an eye ridge.

"Well, I don't suppose you're on your way to Possibility with that firescales. You have a few dragons waiting for you, Turtle," Riptide remarked.

"I have a name, fish!" Peril said.

"That grumpy Skywing is Peril," Turtle said.

"Duly noted. Speaking of, I believe you have someone waiting for you in Possibility too," Riptide said, turning to Peril.

"Who?" Peril asked, narrowing her piercing blue eyes.

Riptide contemplated if he wanted to say anything. "Your father," he finally said.

Peril's eyes widened slightly but then narrowed in hostility. 

"Yeah, right. If he was my father, he wouldn't have let my rot under Scarlet," Peril snarled.

"You'll have to talk to him yourself about that. I only know that he's your father and that he's in Possibility," Riptide said.

Peril huffed, then took off without another word, leaving Turtle scrambling to catch up. 

"Bye Riptide, I'll be sure to say hi to my sister for you," Turtle called back, memorizing Riptide's reaction. 

_The good thing about being quiet is that you notice more things around you._

Peril really pushed Turtle's endurance on the last leg of the flight, her Skywing physiology giving her an edge.

The outskirts of Possibility soon came within reach.

"Peril! Peril! Slow down, I need to tell you something," Turtle huffed out, panting from exertion.

"The city is very crowded, so if you don't want to accidentally burn anything, I think it'd be smart for you to travel by swimming through the central river," Turtle continued.

Peril thought about it for a second but decided the gain of not burning dragons was worth the loss of having to endure swimming. 

"Fine," she grumbled, before diving into the water. To her surprise, she actually found the cool water soothing, but she'd start to boil the water if she stayed there for too long, so she swam forward, head just above the water for air. None of the dragons along the bank seemed to notice her, just minding their own business. Peril observed the bustling of the city from the safety of the river as she swam forward. 

Turtle returned from up ahead, having scouted out the area.

"There's a clearing up ahead, sandy beach, mostly empty. You can get out of the water there," he reported. Peril tried nodding affirmative, but just got water in her snout, and spent the rest of the swim trying to clear the water out.

Still coughing as she hauled herself ashore, a few dragons gave her wary looks, but they soon turned back to their activities. Breathing in the hot desert air, Peril spent a few moments looking at the sky as blue as her eyes as she walked forward. Turtle let out a cry of alarm, before diving for cover, seeing the plant that devastated the Summer Palace during the Great War. Peril swung her head looking for the threat, but by the time she realized what it was, it was too late to do anything. A crate of dragonflame cacti was knocked over by a robber trying to escape the shopkeeper, and they rolled to her talons.

Peril looked at the robber, eyes wide, mouthing the words 'oh no,' before the dragonflame cacti ignited, exploding with a thunderous boom, the shockwave knocking over several insecure shop stands and made several dragons lose their footing. The fireball reached high into the sky. When the smoke cleared, blown away by the wind, Turtle unfurled his wings, and immediately went to see if Peril was alright.

"Ngh," she groaned, rolling over. The sharp seed pods had embedded themselves in her scales, and were heat resistant, having adapted to flourish in the desert. Nonetheless, her scales were hot enough to turn them to ashes after a few moments, leaving a panting, disoriented Skywing behind. 

"What was that?"

"What happened?"

"Some dragonflame went off."

"Was it an attack?"

"The Skywing set them off."

"How did she survive so many to the face?"

The scorch marks of the dragonflame cacti on the ground formed a black ring on which Peril lay. After several moments of excruciating pain, the sharpness of the seed pods finally left, having been purged. She clambered to her feet, stance wide to stay balanced as she caught her breath and stabilized her nerves.

"Three Moons, Peril! Thank goodness you were a firescales, those seed pods could have killed you if you were any normal dragon!" Turtle remarked. 

"That hurt really bad. I'm going to go burn the one responsible," Peril growled, teeth grit and tail lashing before marching over the robber that was still dazed, blue eyes radiating hatred.

"So, little thief. You better explain yourself, or suffer a painful death at the hands of the Skywing Arena Champion," Peril said, capitalizing on her history to get what she wanted, which was profuse apologies, groveling, and public humiliation of the robber, in that order.

The skinny Sandwing started to shake with fear, teeth clattering as she panicked, not sure what to do. Peril leaned in closer, and let her heat start to cook the wing closest to her. The Sandwing backed away but was soon against a corner. Peril flared her wings, leaving nowhere to go but up, and even then, Peril was close enough to just grab the dragon. Peril was about to step closer, edging her advantage when the rapid talonsteps of several dragons reached her ears.

"Turtle! You're here!? We heard explosions and came as fast as we could. Moon, looks like your prediction was right!" a male voice said.

"What happened?" a female voice asked frantically. 

"Oooh, that sounded like thunder. We get that a lot in the rainforest, wouldn't you agree, Moon?" another female voice said. 

"Apologize right now, thief," Peril snarled, opting to cut her vengeance short.

"Sorry, sorry!" the thief screeched, before leaping into the air and flapping away, eager to stay alive.

Peril sneered at the shrinking form of the thief before she turned around and saw a Nightwing and a Sandwing, along with a Rainwing.

"I take that you all know Turtle," Peril said.

"We're in the same winglet, so why wouldn't we?" the Sandwing asked.

"Fair point. But I don't know you three," Peril said.

"That's Moonwatcher, that's Kinkajou, and that's Qibli," Turtle replied, pointing at the respective dragons. 

"Whatever. I'm here to meet my father," Peril said, fully accepting that her trip for breathers and to get away from her problems was now about meeting her father.

"Straight to the point. I like you," Qibli said.

"Go snort a rock," Peril replied.

"Sheesh. You're just like Winter," Qibli said. "Well, follow me. We're going to the clinic where your father is waiting."

The short trip to the clinic was longer than usual to account for Kinkajou's cast, but otherwise, it was quiet. Dragons seemed to make way for the odd group of dragons due to Peril's presence. Soon enough, the group was in front of a large whitewashed structure. Peril was instructed to sit on the road to avoid burning the doctor's waiting garden. She tucked her tail close and made herself as small as possible to avoid burning other dragons who couldn't keep their eyes on the road.

"Peril!" a voice called out to her frantically. She whirled to face the source of the sound. A large orange Skywing came to view.

"Stay back, unless you want to get burned," Peril warned.

"Do you take me for a moron? I know that. But I have something you might want," he replied, pulling a locket out of the pouch he was wearing.

"I know you're probably mad at me, but we can talk after you put this on," he continued. "A gift, from father to daughter."

Peril narrowed her eyes, before turning her attention to the dragons gathered at the doorway. Turtle and Kinkajou were nowhere to be found, but Moon and Qibli were present.

"Put the necklace on. We've checked the enchantment. It makes is so you can control whether or not you have firescales," Qibli assured her.

Peril swallowed, then glanced back at the Skywing, unsure. His face was apprehensive, but Peril could see the desperate hope and sorrow in his eyes. Peril closed her eyes for a moment.

_'But we have to give every dragon a chance to prove themselves something different than what we thought they are. You came so far only because some dragon was willing to give you a chance. It's only fair others get the same chance.'_

"Fine," Peril said. Her father dropped the locket into her talons. It didn't melt or deform in any way, which wasn't surprising, considering it was animus touched. She slipped the locket over her neck and felt the heat she'd been pouring out of her body all her life extinguished. She felt oddly cold. She looked down, to see her glowing copper scales had faded to the same color of her father's scales.

"To get your firescales back, just will it to happen," Soar said, an uneasy smile on his face.

Peril nodded, then closed her eyes to focus, visualizing the heat pouring back out.

_I want my firescales._

She felt the heat pouring back out, and her coppery glow was back. 

"You and I have much to discuss, Peril. You can come to the garden outback without firescales. But above all else, I just want to say sorry. For everything. For abandoning you. For letting you be at Scarlet's whims. For not being there when you needed me. You'll probably never forgive me, who am I kidding?" Soar muttered, tears dripping down his snout. 

Peril willed her firescales away, then walked to the garden.

"Come. You said it yourself. We have much to discuss," she ordered.

That left Moon and Qibli standing out in the street.

"When do you think Winter is going to come back? It's almost been 5 days," Qibli asked. "With the sunset, it'd be the fifth day."

"I don't know Qibli. It's a long trip up north, and who knows how long business up north will take," Moon replied. 

"Not too long, apparently," a new voice said.

Walking down the road was Winter and a new Nightwing who was roughly Soar's size.

Neither Moon nor Qibli could suppress a smile.

"Only royalty would indulge in such impeccable timing," Qibli said with a proud smile, before rushing over and hugging Winter. He felt Winter stiffen, but melt into Qibli. But even when Qibli wanted to pull out of the hug, Winter kept him trapped in an embrace. 

"Winter? What's wrong?" Qibli asked. He got his answer when he felt something wet hit his shoulders.

"I'm not a prince anymore. But it's okay. It was a voluntary thing. But hey, let's look on the bright side. Hailstorm's life is back on track, and I found a dragon who knows how to get to the Lost City of Night," Winter shakily replied after a short silence.

"Lost, huh? Didn't think they'd abandon the Kingdom, but I guess it makes sense," the Nightwing says.

"Qibli, Moon. Meet Foeslayer," Winter said.

Foeslayer gave a kind smile, but Moon's jaw only dropped.

"The Foeslayer? As in Darkstalker's mother?" Moon asked, bewildered.

"The one and only, dragonet," Foeslayer said.

Everything clicked into place with Moon, her eyes growing wider than the moon. 

"We must head for Jade Mountain at once. We need to give the scroll to the teachers, then let's get the prophecy dealt with!" Moon announced. 

"Slow down, young one. Who mentioned a prophecy?" Foeslayer asked.


End file.
